Mother and partner deny toddler murder Published duration 4 September 2015

image copyright Police Scotland image caption Two-year-old Liam Fee died in April 2014

A mother and her partner have denied murdering her two-year-old son at a house in Fife and blaming his death on a seven-year-old boy.

Rachael Fee, 31, and her civil partner Nyomi Fee, 28, are also charged with ill-treating and neglecting two young boys over a two-year period.

They both denied the murder and neglect charges when they appeared at the High Court in Glasgow.

Trial was set for 4 April next year at the High Court in Livingston.

Blunt force

Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC, prosecuting, said: "The duration of the trial is likely to be eight weeks, though it is difficult to be precise in a case of this nature."

The women deny murdering two-year-old Liam Johnson - also known as Liam Fee - by repeatedly inflicting blunt force trauma to his head and body by unknown means at Donald Crescent in Thornton, near Glenrothes, on various occasions between 15 and 22 March 2014.

They also pleaded not guilty to attempting to defeat the end of justice by falsely telling a 999 operator, ambulance personnel, police and friends and family members that a seven-year-old boy was responsible for the death of Liam.

The charges also allege that on various occasions between January 2012 and March 2014 they failed to provide Liam with adequate exercise or physical and mental stimulation.

They are accused of leaving him in his pushchair for prolonged periods, putting a blanket over his face and taping socks to his hands and leaving him in a darkened room.

It is also claimed they failed to provide him with enough food and gave him medicine intended for another child and Calpol in order to keep him quiet and make him sleep.

Legal reasons

The two women, who now live in Ryton, Tyne and Wear, also deny harming two young boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, from January 2012 to March 2014.

It is alleged that the pair compelled one of the boys to stand naked under a cold shower as a punishment for wetting the bed, then pushed him and told him to stand still if his body shook.

The Crown also claim that they locked him in a cage they built using a metal fire guard and wood for prolonged periods during the day and night.

They are also alleged to have subjected the boys to a list of other cruel punishments including tying the boy naked to a chair in their bedroom where they kept rats, snakes and a boa constrictor and telling him that the boa constrictor ate naughty boys.