A High Court judge will today consider the case of blind murderer, Yvonne Sleightholme, who has served almost a decade in prison for a crime she insists she did not commit

Sleightholme, said by the Crown to be a jilted bride-to-be, was convicted in May 1991 after a Leeds Crown Court trial of the murder of Jayne Smith, 29, who was shot in the head at Broats Farm, Salton, near Malton, Yorkshire, on December 13, 1988.

Miss Smith was said to have replaced Sleightholme in the affections of farmer William Smith.

But Sleightholme, of Carr House Farm, Seamer, near Scarborough, who is registered blind, has always protested her innocence, and her supporters say that is why she has yet to be transferred to an open prison with a view to release. Sleightholme's original appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in January 1993.

But campaigners are now challenging a decision of the Criminal Cases Review Commission - a body that investigates alleged miscarriages of justice - not to refer Sleightholme's case back for fresh examination by the Appeal Court.

David Hamilton, of Bromley Road, and Margaret Leonard, of Brockley Rise, both in south-east London, say they have been given power of attorney by Sleightholme to fight her case in court. They had described themselves as concerned citizens determined to expose a miscarriage of justice.

In their judicial review application, the pair will argue that fresh evidence has emerged since Sleightholme's trial that casts doubt on the safety of her conviction and that the Commission's decision was unreasonable and unlawful.

Mr Hamilton and Ms Leonard will seek to show today that Sleightholme's challenge is 'arguable' and should go forward to a full judicial review hearing.