A mother and her partner who murdered her two-year-old son are appealing their convictions.

Rachel Trelfa and her partner Nyomi Fee were found guilty of killing Liam Fee at a trial earlier this year.

The pair were also convicted of committing a catalogue of abuse against Liam and two other boys in their care at a house in Thornton, near Glenrothes in Fife, over a two-year period.

Fee and Trelfa were each sentenced to life in prison at the High Court in Edinburgh last Wednesday.

They were told they would not be eligible for parole until at least 2040.

On Friday it has emerged that Trelfa, 31, and 28-year-old Fee have lodged notices of their intention to appeal against their conviction..

During seven weeks of deeply distressing evidence, the court heard Liam suffered heart injuries similar to those found on road crash victims after a severe blunt force trauma to his chest and abdomen.

The pathologist who examined his lifeless body also found more than 30 external injuries on the toddler's body and fractures to the boy's upper arm and thigh.

The jurors have been excused from jury duty for ten years because of the harrowing nature of the case.