DAVID Benson is well known across Dorset for his portrayals of the lives of some of our best-known and loved comedians.

But for the time being he is putting the laughter aside and leaving the likes of Kenneth Williams and Frankie Howerd behind to shed light on the biggest terrorist atrocity to take place on British soil.

On December 21, 1988 Pan Am Flight 103, Clipper Maid of the Seas, was blown out of the skies above the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people.

After years of investigation, Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In the award-winning Lockerbie: Unfinished Business, David Benson plays the part of Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing, and who remains convinced to this day that the wrong man was sent down for the killings.

Using a blend of verbatim material and dramatisation, Benson presents Swire’s ongoing struggle to find the truth in a hard-hitting piece of political theatre.

On one level he sees the play as a tribute to those that were lost and their family and friends. On another, he is using Lockerbie: Unfinished Business as a platform to shine a light on what he sees as a miscarriage of justice.

“I have followed the case closely enough to know that he was probably framed,” said David, who has done extensive research into the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 and its aftermath including a piece in Private Eye by the campaigning journalist Paul Foot.

It is a view also held by Dr Swire, whose website lockerbietruth.com was used by David in his research.

“I was fascinated by it and thought it would be a tremendous challenge and not what people expect because I am usually known for playing camp comedians,” said David.

“But I also feel very strongly about it because I can’t bear the idea that we are being lied to by the government and large sections of the media.

“It is never mentioned that there are huge doubts about al-Megrahi’s guilt from the relatives of those killed, like Jim Swire, who have more reason than anyone to see the right people punished.

“There is almost certainly evidence that the right people are still at large, for whatever reason, and that is deeply tormenting.”

When he was considering the play, David met Dr Swire.

David remembered: “He listened very carefully and answered my questions fully and then he came to see the show when I did a preview in Oxford a month later. I didn’t know he was in the audience but he and his wife Jane came to my dressing room afterwards.

“They said the show was wonderful but that they found parts of it very difficult to listen to, especially the part where you hear the explosion and the sound of rushing wind as the wreckage and the people in it fell for five miles.”

The Swire’s daughter Flora, a medical student, was on Flight 103 and heading to New York to spend Christmas with her fiance. When her parents later cleared out her room they found a letter saying she had been accepted into Cambridge University to study for an MA in neurology.

“They believe it was her Christmas present to them – that she was going to phone them up on December 25 and tell them her news,” said David.

So doesn’t he worry that this most personal and emotive of shows will bring down the wrath of the authorities on to his head?

“I haven’t got anything to lose. They put out lies that the public believes and why shouldn’t they? Unless you do the research into it, how can you know? That’s what the show is about, it’s a crash course on Lockerbie, told in 65 minutes.”

Lockerbie: Unfinished Business is at Bridport Arts centre on June 16 at 8pm. Call 01308 424204 for full details and tickets.