Baby death mother set to get bail

Andrea Bone failed to protect her child

A young mother jailed for three years after failing to prevent the murder of her daughter can be freed on bail pending her appeal, a court has ruled.

Andrea Bone, 21, is appealing against her conviction and sentence after being found guilty of the culpable homicide of 13-month-old Carla-Nicole Bone last November.

Her boyfriend Sandy McClure, 27, who subjected the child to a five-month ordeal of physical abuse before beating her to death at a cottage in Aberdeenshire, was jailed for life with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 13 years.

At an Appeal Court hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Lord Cullen sitting with Lord Hamilton and Lady Cosgrove, agreed to grant Bone interim liberation pending her appeal.

We would be inclined to grant interim liberation, but it must be subject to the Crown checking the address Lord Cullen

Bone's case was continued until Friday, however, to give Crown counsel - who objected to her bail application - time to check out an address she said she could move into if released.

Applying for bail, Bone's lawyer Joe Barr told the court an initial bail application had been refused in July pending a decision on whether her grounds for appeal were going to be accepted.

Those grounds - which centre on the way the trial judge directed the jury in Bone's case - were accepted last Friday.

Mr Barr said that Bone had provided a fixed address and had indicated she has been offered help to find a job.

Carla-Nicole died in hospital

He added that his client has been subjected to "considerable abuse" from fellow convicts while in prison because of the nature of her crime.

Crown counsel Simon di Rollo objected to the bail application, adding that Crown officials have not yet had time to check out the bail address given by Bone.

He said he was sceptical about claims that Bone has been depressed, pointing out that there have been various newspaper stories she had contributed to both before and after the trial.

Granting bail, Lord Cullen told the court: "We have some concerns about the lack of clarity in the grounds of appeal but we have come to the conclusion that having passed the sift we would be inclined to grant interim liberation, but it must be subject to the Crown checking the address."

The case was continued until Friday, 25 September.