The Scottish Government has flatly denied reports they considered the medical opinions of three doctors paid by the Libyan government in releasing the Lockerbie bomber.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that the Libyans had paid for the medical advice of three doctors and "encouraged" them to form the opinion that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi had just three months to live.

The Scottish Government said the prognosis of the three medics - Britons Karol Sikora and Jonathan Waxman and Libyan Ibrahim Sherif - was not taken into account when Kenny MacAskill decided to free the 57-year-old on compassionate grounds last month.

A spokesman said: "This report is false and factually incorrect.

“The Director of Health and Care at the Scottish Prison Service drew on expert advice from a number of cancer specialists in coming to his clinical assessment that a three month prognosis is now a reasonable estimate for the patient.

These included two consultant oncologists, two consultant urologists and a number of other specialists, including a palliative care team, who had reviewed and contributed to the clinical management of the patient.

They did not include Karol Sikora, Jonathan Waxman or Ibrahim Sherif, whose assessments played no part in considerations – including no part in the report submitted by the Scottish Prison Service Director of Health and Care.

“Taking all the advice into account, it was the Director of Health and Care at the SPS who concluded in his report that his clinical assessment was that a three month prognosis for the patient was a reasonable estimate.

“That was the final and clear medical advice submitted to the Justice Secretary by the Scottish Prison Service Director of Health and Care, and upon which Mr MacAskill based his decision, alongside the recommendations of the Parole Board and the Prison Governor.”

Under Scottish law, any prisoner thought to have a life expectancy of longer than this is not eligible for the compassionate release scheme.

The spokesman added that Megrahi's defence team had submitted their evidence on the extent of his illness too late for it to be included in Mr MacAskill's considerations.

Megrahi is the only man convicted in connection with the airline bomb that killed 270 people when it exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.

He was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in October last year. In June and July, doctors concluded that Megrahi could live with his condition for as long as ten months.

Prof Sikora was unavailable for comment but told the Sunday Telegraph the Libyans "suggested" that giving Megrahi a life expectancy of three months would be "helpful".

"To start with I said it was impossible to do that, but when I looked at it, it looked as though it could be done," he said.