A NORTH-EAST man, jailed for life for murdering a pregnant woman, her two young children and teenage babysitter, yesterday won the right to challenge his convictions.
Alan Ray, 27, was jailed for life after being convicted of four counts of murder at Newcastle Crown Court, on March 29 last year.
He was found guilty of pouring petrol through the woman's letter box and igniting it as sheand her children slept upstairs.
Lisa Dodgson, 25, her daughters - two-year-old Amy and Rosie, nine months - and babysitter Emma Cater, 16, died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
A judge initially refused to grant Ray leave to appeal, but John Milford, QC, took the case to a full bench of three Appeal Court judges.
Lord Justice Kay, sitting with Mr Justice Sachs and Mrs Justice Steel, granted Ray permission to challenge his convictions.
Miss Dodgson's house in Chepstow Road, Newcastle, was set alight in the early hours of May 14, 1998.
Police linked Ray to the crime through a scratched half-empty petrol can that was recovered from outside the house.
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