DOUBTS over the feasibility of arranging for a Scottish court and jury

to sit abroad are likely to prevent Labour from supporting an amendment

to the new Criminal Justice Bill which could bring about a trial for the

Lockerbie bombing.

The amendment, tabled by former Scottish Office minister Allan

Stewart, would allow a Scottish court and jury to sit abroad for the

trial of the two Libyans charged with carrying out the attack.

Libya has refused to hand over the men, who are accused of murdering

the 270 people who died when Pan Am flight 103 exploded above Lockerbie

in 1988, claiming they would not receive a fair trial in Scotland, or

the United States.

Mr Stewart's amendment offers a potential solution by keeping the case

within the jurisdiction of the Scottish legal system while satisfying

Libyan demands that the trial be held in a neutral third county,

possibly The Hague in the Netherlands.

The amendment will be opposed by the Government when it comes up in

the Commons Committee considering the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.

With a Government majority of one on the committee, Labour's support for

Mr Stewart could force a defeat.

However, although the Scottish Labour leadership is sympathetic to the

demands of those campaigning for a solution to the impasse, it is

understood to be concerned about the feasibility of having a Scottish

court sit abroad.

Sources suggest there are ''fundamental problems'' including the need

to alter Scots law to fit in with European law which could result in a

''mongrel court''. However, Labour is not yet prepared to dismiss Mr

Stewart's clause, and will wait for the committee debate, expected after

Easter.

Labour MP Tam Dalyell, who sits on the committee and who will support

the amendment, said yesterday he would fight to secure his party's

backing. He said he had received assurances from Deputy Shadow Scottish

Secretary John McFall that Labour would back the amendment.

''I would be astonished if we didn't,'' he said.

Yesterday Mr McFall, who leads for Labour on the committee, said his

side would wait ''with interest'' to hear Mr Stewart explain his idea.

Mr Stewart's proposes to visLibya from next Friday, to meet Libyan

government officials with the aim of persuading them to accept his idea.

The former minister, who will announce details of his trip today, will

write to all the MPs on the committee explaining the reasoning behind

the new clause. He does not accept the argument that procedural

difficulties would make it impossible for a Scottish court to sit in a

third country.

Meanwhile, the British authorities yesterday refused to comment on a

newspaper report which named an Arab businessman as the mastermind

behind the Lockerbie bombing.

It claimed that Dr Ihsan Barbouti, who had offices in London and

Malta, planned the attack, and received #3.2m from a Libyan account.

Officially, Dr Barbouti died in 1990 after suffering a heart attack,

but the newspaper suggests he may have faked his own death to avoid

capture and trial.