Liam Fee's Mum to appeal murder conviction

Two-year-old Liam was killed at his home in Thornton in Fife in March 2014.

Published 18th Nov 2016

The Mum of tragic Fife toddler Liam Fee has been given the permission to appeal against her murder conviction.

31-year-old Rachel Trelfa also known as Rachel Fee was told on Friday that her lawyers can argue that the judge in her trial from earlier this year made mistakes when addressing jurors about the law.

Judge Lord Burns jailed Fee for 23 and a half years for murdering her two-year-old son at the High Court in Edinburgh in July 2016.

Her civil partner Nyomi,24, was jailed for 24 years for her role in the death of Liam.

They were also found guilty on a number of neglect and abuse charges, having tortured the child for years before his death.

The duo left the child with heart injuries similar to those found on car crash victims at their home in Thornton in March 2014.

The two murderers tried to evade justice for murdering Liam by forcing one of the other children to take the blame for the crime.

They discovered that Nyomi had attempted to frame the child by forcing him to leave his DNA on Liam's body.

However, after a short hearing at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh on Friday, a panel of judges gave permission for Fee's legal team to appeal against her conviction.

Judges Lady Paton, Lord Bracadale and Lord Turnbull agreed with submissions made by defence counsel Gavin Anderson.

Mr Anderson argued that evidence is available to suggest that Lord Burns misdirected jurors over the legal requirements needed to secure a murder conviction against Fee.

The advocate also argued that the judge didn't properly explain to the jury about the lesser charge of culpable homicide.

Jurors considering their verdict against Fee may have felt that the evidence presented to them meant that it was more appropriate to return a guilty verdict to culpable homicide than murder.

Lady Paton said: "We will allow the appeal to proceed."