A fresh application for a review of the conviction of the only man found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing is expected to be submitted to authorities in Scotland.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission said it expects to receive a request "shortly" for it to look again at the conviction of Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

Megrahi was the sole person to have been found guilty of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland on December 21 1988, in which 270 people were killed.

He abandoned a second appeal against conviction in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and was later released from jail by the Scottish Government on compassionate grounds and died protesting his innocence in 2012.

The new application for the conviction to be reviewed is to be made by Jim Swire on behalf of himself and others.

Dr Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora died in the bombing, has long held the view that Megrahi was not guilty of the atrocity.

The Commission is an independent body set up 15 years ago to review alleged miscarriages of justice in Scottish criminal cases.

It can refer a case back to the High Court if it believes a miscarriage of justice may have occurred and that such a move is in the interests of justice.

After that point, the case will proceed before judges as a normal appeal.

When a convicted person has died, court rules allow the High Court to consider an appeal where it considers the person taking the case forward has "legitimate interest" in the issue.

Chief executive Gerard Sinclair said there are several matters which will affect the timescale for the body to be able to deal with a fresh application.

Looking at these matters could take some time, he warned.