Mum of tragic tot Liam Fee to appeal murder conviction
The mum of tragic tot Liam Fee has been given permission to appeal against her murder conviction.
The mum of tragic tot Liam Fee has been given permission to appeal against her murder conviction.
Rachel Fee,31, 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 taking Liam's life.
The pair spent two years torturing the tot before finally killing him at their Fife home in March 2014.
The duo left the child with heart injuries similar to those found on car crash victims.
They also abused another two boys in their care by imprisoning one in a home made cage and tying another naked to a chair in a dark room that stored snakes and rats.
The two murderers tried to evade justice for murdering Liam by forcing one of the other children to take the blame for the crime.
Meanwhile, the cowards Googled whether they could serve their prison sentences alongside each other in the same jail.
Police eventually discovered the apparent confession made by the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been made under duress.
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." The lovers were convicted of murder following a seven week trial at the High Court in Livingston on May 31 2016.
The court heard how the pair had subjected the infant to more than two years of horrendous abuse and neglect. The couple were also convicted of cruelty inflicted on two other children in their care.
A jury of six men and eight men had deliberated over three days before convicting the Fees of all eight charges facing them.
The six page document detailing the Fees's evil actions, is thought by legal experts, to be one of the worst ever seen in a child abuse case in Scotland.
The boys were abused at the Fees's home in Thornton,near Glenrothes, Fife. Liam, aged two, died in March 2014.
The court heard how Liam was described by staff at his nursery as a sweet, affectionate boy. Former manager Kimberly Traill said: "He loved a cuddle and a story and singing."
The court heard Liam died after suffering severe blunt force trauma to head chest and abdomen that ruptured his heart. Experts reckon it was injury more commonly seen in victims of car crashes.
In addition to the murder charge, the Fees were found guilty of assaulting Liam over more than two years.
They ill treated and neglected him from January 2012 onwards by leaving him for prolonged periods, failing to provide him with enough exercise and mental stimulation, leaving him in his bed and buggy for hours on end and putting a blanket on his face.
The Fees were also convicted of failing to get Liam help for a broken leg and arm he suffered in the days before his death.
The jury also convicted the pair of four charges of abusing two older boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Police found enough evidence to prove that the Fees were guilty of murder. Fee's appeal hearing will be heard sometime in the near future.