The conviction of the Lockerbie bomber will be reviewed following an appeal from his family and supporters.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is the only person to have been convicted over the 1988 attack, which claimed the lives of 270 people.

But his family and those of several victims believe that the Libyan, who died in 2012 after being released from prison in Scotland, is innocent.

Gerard Sinclair, chief executive of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, said Megrahi abandoned his last appeal so he could return to Libya.

He was suffering from terminal cancer at the time.

Mr Sinclair said: "The commission believes that Mr Megrahi, in abandoning his appeal, did so as he held a genuine and reasonable belief that such a course of action would result in him being able to return home to Libya at a time when he was suffering from terminal cancer.

"On that basis, the commission has decided that it is in the interests of justice to accept the current application for a full review of his conviction."

Megrahi's supporters believe he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice and have claimed the bombing was ordered by Iran in retaliation for the downing of an Iranian airliner in 1988, which killed 290 people.

They say it was carried out by a Syrian-Palestinian group who escaped justice.

Megrahi lost an appeal against his conviction in 2002 but concerns about information provided by a key witness during his trial led to another appeal in 2007.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case back to the appeal court, having decided there were six grounds which raised doubts about the safety of the case against him.

They raised concerns about the date when the clothes were said to have been purchased, a witness' identification of Megrahi, and whether he had received a reward from the Americans for giving evidence against the Libyan.

Megrahi dropped his second appeal in 2009 after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Megrahi, who remains the only person to be convicted of the bombing, was released by the Scottish Government on compassionate grounds in August 2009.

He returned to Libya where he died in May 2012.

In a statement issued on behalf of Megrahi's family, solicitor Aamer Anwar said: "The reputation of the Scottish law has suffered both at home and internationally because of widespread doubts about the conviction of Mr Al-Megrahi.

"It is in the interests of justice and restoring confidence in our criminal justice system that these doubts can be addressed, however the only place to determine whether a miscarriage of justice did occur is in the appeal court, where the evidence can be subjected to rigorous scrutiny."