Mum and girlfriend deny murdering her two-year-old son and threatening to saw off another young boy's penis

A mother and her partner have denied murdering her two-year-old son and blaming his death on a seven-year-old boy.

Rachael Fee, 31, and her civil partner Nyomi Fee, 28, are also charged with ill-treating and neglecting two young boys over a two year period.

They appeared at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, report The Daily Record .

Both women, who are in a civil partnership, denied all charges against them and trial was set for April 4 next year.

The women deny murdering Liam Johnson, who was also known as Liam Fee, by repeatedly inflicting blunt force trauma to his head and body by unknown means at an address in Thornton, Fife, on various occasions between March 15 and 22, 2014.

They also pleaded not guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice by falsely claiming a seven-year-old boy was responsible for the death of Liam.

It is also alleged that on various occasions between January 2012 and March 2014 they failed to provide Liam with adequate exercise or physical and mental stimulation.

It is also claimed they failed to provide him with enough food and gave him medicine intended for another child and Calpol in order to keep him quiet and make him sleep.

The two women, who now live in Ryton, Tyne and Wear, also deny harming two young boys from January 2012 to March 2014.

It is alleged they forced one of the boys to stand naked under a cold shower as a punishment for wetting the bed, then pushed him and told him to stand still if his body shook.

The Crown also claim that they locked him in a cage they built using a metal fire guard and wood for prolonged periods during the day and night.

The Crown also claims that the Fees forced the young boy to eat his own excrement, threatened to cut off his penis with a saw, put soap in his mouth, forced him to sleep in a closed drawer and failed to provide him with adequate food.

The pair is also accused of various other cruel punishments including tying the boy naked to a chair in their bedroom where they kept snakes including a boa constrictor and telling him that the snake ate naughty boys and forcing him to sleep there on his own overnight.