Mother and civil partner found guilty of murdering toddler Liam Fee

A mother and her civil partner have been convicted of murdering her two-year-old son.

Toddler Liam Fee was found dead at his home near Glenrothes in Fife on March 22 2014, having suffered a ruptured heart as a result of severe blunt force trauma to his body.

His mother, Rachel Trelfa or Fee, 31, and partner Nyomi Fee, 29, had denied killing the child but were convicted of his murder following a seven-week trial at the High Court in Livingston.

The women, originally of Ryton, Tyne and Wear, were also found guilty of a catalogue of abuse against two other young boys, including one they falsely blamed for Liam's death.

The couple were convicted of all eight charges they faced, with a majority verdict returned on the murder charge after around 10 hours of deliberations by the jury.

In addition to the murder charge, they were found guilty of assaulting Liam over a period of more than two years prior to his death.

And they were convicted of ill-treating and neglecting him from January 2012 onwards by leaving him for prolonged periods of time, failing to provide him with adequate exercise and mental stimulation and - in the days leading up to his death - failing to get him proper medical attention for a broken leg and a fractured arm.

The jury also convicted them of four charges detailing a string of abuses against two other boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

These included forcing the youngsters to take cold showers when they wet the bed, imprisoning one in a home-made cage and tying another naked to a chair in a dark room where snakes and rats were kept.

The women were further found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice after Liam died by, among other things, trying to pin the blame for the death on one of the young boys.