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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Dan Barker & Jon Brady

Scots mum found guilty of murdering newborn 'may have been wrongly convicted'

A woman who was found guilty of murdering her newborn son could have been wrongly convicted, Scotland's criminal case review board has found.

The woman, known only as AZ, was convicted in 2011 after a trial and was handed a life prison sentence with a minimum term of 15 years.

But on Friday, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) said it has referred her sentence to the High Court of Justiciary and said she could have been a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

AZ applied to the commission in 2020, seeking a review of her conviction following a psychological assessment in prison.

Work undertaken by the Scottish Prison Service concluded it was likely her decision-making at the time of the offence would have been affected by conditions not diagnosed before the trial.

She said to the commission it might amount to fresh evidence, and that she ought to have been convicted of culpable homicide instead of murder.

The commission began its own review of the case last year and after a forensic psychiatrist backed the diagnosis of the prison service psychologist, it said the new psychiatric and psychological evidence was significant.

The commission, which operates with a board of eight members, said it believes a miscarriage of justice may have occurred and has written to the High Court, the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office outlining why.

The SCCRC is an independent body set up in 1999 to review alleged miscarriages of justice in Scottish convictions and sentences.

A spokesman for the Crown Office said: "We note the referral to the High Court of Justiciary Appeal Court."

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