EDINBURGH, July 7 (Reuters) - A final decision on an appeal by Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, will not be made until later this year due to the ill health of one of the judges, the court said on Tuesday.

Lord Wheatley, one of five Scottish judges deliberating on Megrahi's appeal, recently underwent a heart operation and will not be able to return to duties until the middle of September, Scotland's top judge, Lord Hamilton, said.

"The appellant (Megrahi) is anxious to have as soon as possible a decision on grounds one and two (of his appeal) and in particular would have wished a decision to be intimated on these grounds today. Regrettably, the court is unable to accommodate that," Hamilton said in a statement to the court.

Megrahi, 57, was sentenced to life in prison for blowing up a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie as it flew from London to New York on Dec. 18, 1988. The bombing killed all 259 people on board, including 189 Americans, and 11 people on the ground.

The Libyan, a former intelligence agent who maintains his innocence, is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. He has said he wants to return to Libya before he dies, even briefly, but has been denied any bail on humanitarian grounds.

In 2001, four years after Megrahi's conviction, Libya accepted responsibility for the attack and agreed to pay around $2.7 billion in compensation to the victims' families. But some relatives are not convinced of Megrahi's guilt.

Libya has applied for Megrahi to be allowed to go home to see his wife as part of a prisoner transfer agreement signed between Britain and Libya in April, but that application is stalled pending the outcome of Megrahi's appeal.

Margaret Scott, chief defence lawyer for Megrahi, said she was dismayed at the court's latest delay.

"There is a very real danger that my client will die before the case is determined," she said on Tuesday. His health "is deteriorating with a relentless onset of symptoms." (Writing by Luke Baker; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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