The mother of a young aspiring actress who was killed in the Lockerbie bombing today said she hoped convicted terrorist Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi had died "a painful, horrible death".

Susan Cohen's daughter Theodora, 20, was on board Pan Am flight 103 bound for John F Kennedy airport in New York when it exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988.

Speaking from her home in Cape May Court House, New Jersey, Mrs Cohen, 74, said she believed Megrahi should have received the death penalty.

"He died with his family around him. My daughter died a horrible death when she was 20 years old with her full life ahead of her. You call that justice?

"I feel no pity for Megrahi, I believe he should have died a lot sooner. He should have been tried in the States and given the death penalty. Watching him be released from prison was very painful for me."

Mrs Cohen said questions still remain about how the bombing happened and who was involved.

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• Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, boards a plane at Glasgow airport from Greenock Prison on August 20, 2009 in Glasgow, Scotland. Abdelbaset ali al-Megrahi had been serving a life sentence for the 1988 Pan-AM flight 103 Lockerbie bombing, which killed 270 people. Megrahi, who is terminally ill with prostate cancer, served eight years of a life sentence and following today's decision, has been released on compassionate grounds to go home to spend his remaining days with his family in Libya.

• Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi arrives at Glasgow airport to board a plane after arriving from Greenock Prison on August 20, 2009 in Glasgow, Scotland.

• Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi arrives at Glasgow airport to board a plane after arriving from Greenock Prison on August 20, 2009 in Glasgow, Scotland.

• Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi arrives at Glasgow airport to board a plane after arriving from Greenock Prison on August 20, 2009 in Glasgow, Scotland.

• A man protests as a police convoy escorts Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only person convicted for downing a US passenger jet that killed 270 people over Lockerbie, from Greenock prison to Glasgow airport in Scotland, on August 20, 2009.

• This Dec. 22, 1988, file photo shows police and investigators looking at what remains of the flight deck of Pan Am 103 on a field in Lockerbie, Scotland.

"I think this was to do with deals in the dust and it is despicable. We cannot let Megrahi's death stand in the way of the Scottish and American government finding out who else was involved in the bombings and the specifics of how it was done.

"I don't believe conspiracy theories that Megrahi was innocent."

Theodora was a student at New York's Syracuse University and had spent a term in London pursuing her dream of being an actress.

Mrs Cohen said the loss of her daughter haunts her every day.

"There is no peace when you lose a child. You hear about closure but there is none. It will never get easier, it changes everything.

"I detest Megrahi, he was monstrous, and I hope his death was extremely painful and horrible. That would help, but it wasn't just him that was responsible. I felt happy when Colonel Gaddafi died but I can't feel happy now.

"My daughter was clever and talented and she had a beautiful voice. She was in London to see plays, it was all part of growing up.

"The bombing took away the joy of my life and any attempt to cover it up is a great evil."