Cameron said yesterday's landmark should instead focus on the victims "and to those whose lives have been touched and changed by what happened at Lockerbie that night".

"Let us say to them: 'our admiration for you is unconditional'," he said.

"For the fortitude and resilience you have shown. For your determination never to give up. You have shown that terrorist acts cannot crush the human spirit. That is why terrorism will never prevail."

Cameron highlighted the actions of New York's Syracuse University, which lost 35 of its members in the attack.

The university honours the dead each year with the Remembrance/Lockerbie scholarships, which are presented to two Lockerbie students and 35 of its own undergraduates.

"This is the lasting and optimistic legacy bequeathed to future generations on behalf of those who lost their lives on this day 25 years ago and who we remember here today," he said.

Bagpipes played and wreaths were laid in Lockerbie yesterday, as the families gathered to remember the victims.

Some relatives gathered at the town's Dryfesdale Cemetery, laying down wreaths and cards and pausing for a moment's reflection before a memorial stone.

Despite Megrahi's death, his family on Friday told the BBC they hoped to appeal against his conviction.

His brother Abdel-Hakim al-Megrahi said the family "wanted the truth to be revealed".

"My brother Abdel Basset could not have committed this heinous crime. He could never hurt any single person, let alone 271 innocent victims."

Megrahi died almost three years after the Scottish government freed him following his diagnosis with prostate cancer.

Additional reporting by Associated Press