Lorraine Kelly says she doesn’t feel she has the ‘right to feel traumatised’ by reporting on the Lockerbie bombing

• Lorraine Kelly reported on the scene when Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie 
• READ MORE: I cheated death in the Lockerbie bombing but my best friend was killed – the guilt never leaves you

Lorraine Kelly said does not feel she has the right to feel traumatised by the Lockerbie Bombing after meeting a woman who lost her neighbours in the disaster.

The presenter, who reported on the terror attack in 1988, then aged 29, saw first-hand the devastating aftermath of the tragedy when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded mid-air, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground in the Scottish town of Lockerbie. 

In ITV1’s new documentary Return to Lockerbie, Lorraine confronts her own difficult memories, including the broken cockpit of the plane which was still warm and the craters and bodies as she drove through the town’s outskirts.

She met with Gillian Moffatt, who was nine years old at the time of the disaster. Gillian had moved from Sherwood Crescent only weeks before Pan Am 103 cut a huge crater in the street, killing several of her neighbours and damaging her family home.

Lorraine Kelly (pictured) does not feel she has the right to be traumatized following the Lockerbie Disaster 

Following the catastrophe, Gillian was left in a ‘really dark place’ and in later life was unable to work after being diagnosed with PTSD.

However, Gillian explained that she struggles to perceive herself as a victim. 

‘There’s almost a bit of, “Well there’s probably lots of people have it. So why am I special?”. Because I’m not. I’m not,’ she told Lorraine.

She added: ‘I think it’s a conditioned response to the culture of not talking about it for so long.

‘Let’s face it, at any time when you have a loss or a trauma, the one thing you need to do is talk about it. And that is a healing process, isn’t it? That’s how we get through things.’

Lorraine found common ground with Gillian, because she too, did not allow herself a victim status.

She said: ‘What Gillian said really resonated with me, that everybody is allowed to have some sort of trauma from this. It’s OK.

‘And it’s not a sign of weakness to say, actually, I was really badly affected by that. And I still am today.’

The TV presenter met with Gillian Moffatt (pictured) during the documentary, who was nine years old when the flight crashed in her neighbourhood 

In conversation with Lorraine, Gillian revealed that she lost several of her neighbours from the crash and her home was damaged 

Lorraine continued: ‘It sort of gets me thinking about how I have never really thought about what it’s done to me and the long-term effects to me as well.’

‘But I was only there reporting on it. I wasn’t living it. I was able to go in and then go back to my life.

‘So, I don’t feel as if I have the right to feel traumatised.

Breaking away from the camera, she told the producer: ‘I’m awfully concerned about that. I don’t want people to think that I’m special, do you know what I mean?

Thirty-five years ago this December, then 29-year-old Lorraine Kelly was one of the first TV reporters to arrive at the scene

The Pan Am Flight 103 exploded mid-air, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground in Lockerbie 

‘It’s exactly the same as Gillian, see when she was saying that it was like, oh my God – that’s exactly how I feel.’

Reports say 73 per cent of people living in Lockerbie 35 years ago suffer from PTSD.

It was not as common to offer counselling back in 1988, and Ms Kelly said her own form of ‘therapy’ was just talking to her father about her traumas.

She said one of the reasons she made the documentary was to highlight the issue of PTSD and encourage people suffering to get help.

Return To Lockerbie with Lorraine Kelly is on ITV1 & ITVX at 9pm Wednesday.

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