So far she has refused to sell her story, possibly realising the PR own goal it could represent.

She did issue a statement, saying: "We have turned down lucrative six-figure offers for interviews, because we have found the whole subject distasteful and inappropriate. I have no intention of exploiting this tragedy."

The Sun was in the forefront of the Free Louise campaign

But if freed and allowed to return home she is widely expected to be signed up and the tabloids are already scrambling to get her signature.

Several tabloids were involved in the Free Louise campaign after she was convicted.

The campaign centred around The Rigger pub in Woodward's home town of Elton, Cheshire and newspaper reporters and television crews from all over the world flocked there in droves.

The partisan treatment of the story in many British tabloids whipped up a frenzy in Woodward's community and in other parts of the country. When Judge Hiller Zobel overturned the murder conviction and released her, people danced for joy in The Rigger.

To many, particularly an American audience, it seemed an inappropriate reaction in a case where a baby had died. The images were credited with sparking a backlash against Eappen in the US.

Much of this anti-Woodward vitriol was to be found on the Internet, which came into its own during the trial.

News sites, including BBC News online, reported huge hits for the key moments of the saga and Judge Zobel used the medium to post his decision, only to be let down by a power cut.

Although Woodward murder conviction was overturned, she remained convicted of manslaughter, which posed a problem for British newspaper editors. Paying convicted criminals for their story breaks the Editors' Code of Conduct.

Publicist Max Clifford, speaking in the aftermath of the trial, did not however think this would pose an insurmountable problem to newspapers. He said: "In the eyes of the British public - in other words the readers of our newspapers - she is innocent, she's a victim. So therefore they'd have no problem justifying paying out large sums of money to her."

The story is said to worth up to £500,000. It is a small price to pay for a world exclusive and would be the ideal scoop for The Sun's new editor, David Yelland, a former New York Post man.

The Editor's Code of Conduct forbids payment to convicted criminals

The editor's code has been tested to the limit in recent months.

Both the Express and the Mirror were criticised for signing up British nurses Deborah Parry and Lucille McLaughlan, who were convicted of murder in Saudi Arabia but later released.

There was also controversy when The Times serialised a book about child killer Mary Bell, who had received payment from author Gitta Sereny for her co-operation.

The Daily Telegraph has also been criticised for serialising the autobiography of former IRA man Sean O'Callaghan.

But the Editor's Code has a public interest clause which several editors have used to justify their actions and which the "winning" paper would no doubt use.