A mother and her civil partner have been convicted of murdering her two-year-old son before trying to pin the blame on another child, the Daily Mail reports.

Toddler Liam Fee was found dead at his home near Glenrothes in Fife in March 2014, having suffered a ruptured heart as a result of severe blunt force trauma to his body.

His mother, Rachel Fee, 31, and her partner Nyomi Fee, 29, denied killing him but were convicted of murder following a seven-week trial at the High Court in Livingston.

The court heard that Liam suffered heart injuries similar to those found on road crash victims after receiving blows to his chest and abdomen.

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

The couple claimed another young boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, was responsible for Liam's death.

In addition to the murder charge, they were found guilty of assaulting Liam over a period of more than two years prior to his death. 

The women, originally of Ryton, Tyne and Wear, were today also found guilty of a catalogue of abuse against two other young boys. 

These included forcing the youngsters to take cold showers when they wet the bed, imprisoning one in a home-made cage and tying another naked to a chair in a dark room where snakes and rats were kept.