A probe is under way into the circumstances leading up to the death of Liam Fee after the convictions of his mother Rachel Trelfa or Fee, 31, and her partner Nyomi Fee, 29.
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The toddler was found with more than 30 injuries to his body, the fatal blow being to his abdomen, which ruptured his heart.
Trelfa and Fee both denied killing the child but were convicted of his murder following a seven-week trial at the High Court in Livingston, Scotland.
The two women were also convicted of four charges relating to the abuse of the other two boys.
Liam’s father, Joseph Johnson, was in tears as the verdict was read out, which showed the jury found Rachel and Nyomi guilty of subjecting the toddler to increasing amounts of cruelty throughout his life.
In the days before his death, he also suffered from a broken leg and arm.
The injuries which ended the two-year-old’s all-too-short existence were so bad they could have been seen in road crash victims, the murder trial heard.
“This was a complex, challenging and sensitive investigation which involved interviewing two young children to establish the level of abuse and neglect both they and Liam Fee had been subjected to”.
In January 2013, a social worker and police office were sent to Rachel and Nyomi’s home to investigate claims that Liam was being abused.
Jurors listened as the expert detailed more than 30 external injuries he found on the toddler’s body, a lot of them “in keeping with blunt force trauma”. These included an abrasion and laceration to the back of the head, and bruises on the shin and thigh.
But the court heard a diagnosis of autism under the age of three would be highly unusual and could only happen in very severe cases.
They told him he had strangled Liam and placed his hand inside the dead boy’s mouth to ensure DNA transfer, in an apparent effort to bolster a forensic case against the child.
A number of people had expressed concern about Liam Fee’s health and wellbeing during his short life.
She was in tears as she told the court she had been so anxious about him that she could not sleep.
By June, staff had contacted social services with their concerns before an angry Fee withdrew Liam from the nursery.
“The death of a child is always traumatic but the murder of a child has a awful and lasting impact on the family, on the wider community and on the carers and professionals involved”, he said.
Vice-chair of Fife Child Protection Committee Dougie Dunlop said: “Liam’s death was a tragedy that has left everyone deeply shocked and saddened”.
It was only when the boy was interviewed by police and social workers that they began to realise the evidence against the boy did not stack up.
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However Karen Pedder, a team manager in child protection at Fife Council, admitted in court that the toddler had dropped off the department’s radar completely in April 2013, until June the same year, when his assigned social worker was off sick.
