A woman dubbed The Black Widow after she was found guilty of murdering her husband has been freed.
Christina Button was jailed for life along with her nephew Simon Tannahill following the death of her husband George in 2003.
But we can reveal she is now out of jail and still protesting her innocence.
She has told her family: “I have lived a nightmare for the last 16 years. I have always said I want to clear my name.
"But I don’t want people now to know about my past, I want... a normal life.”
George, 53, was found in a pool of his own blood by the side of a road near their home, having been bludgeoned to death.
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Suspicion turned on his wife, 21 years his junior, and Tannahill, then 20.
Button had debts of £200,000 and Tannahill had moved into the couple’s home, in West Rainton, Co Durham, shortly after a £450,000 insurance policy was taken out on George’s life.
Justice Royce said when they were found guilty: “It is difficult to conceive of a more cold and calculating killing.”
But Dr Michael Naughton, of the Innocence Network, has said the evidence against Button was “highly circumstantial”.
The Parole Board confirmed it had directed the release of Tannahill, in March 2017, while Button, now 49, was freed last year.
