Kim Galbraith alleged that she was abused

The Crown has now accepted that the direction given to the jury at the original trial was unsound and told the court it was no longer opposing a change in the law.

The hearing before five judges is part of Galbraith's appeal against her conviction for murder which began earlier this month.

Galbraith is challenging her conviction on a number of grounds, including claims that a row surrounding her counsel - Donald Findlay QC - was detrimental to her case.

When Galbraith stood trial two year ago, she claimed that years of sexual abuse by her bullying husband, had driven her to shoot him in their home in Furnace, Argyll.

But the trial judge Lord Osborne told the jury that some form of mental illness was necessary if they were to accept that Galbraith was not responsible for her actions.

Crown acceptance

When the appeal hearing began earlier this month, her lawyer argued that the rigid interpretation of this requirement was contrary to the interests of justice.

On Tuesday, the solicitor general Neil Davidson QC told the court that the Crown accepted that the direction given to the jury at the original trial was unsound and they were no longer opposing a change in the law.

Donald Findlay was recorded on video

The judges will now decide how the law should be applied and lay down guidance for the future.

They also have the power to quash Galbraith's murder conviction and replace it with the lesser crime of culpable homicide.

Earlier this month, Galbraith's legal team told the court that the row surrounding a recording of Donald Findlay QC singing sectarian songs had broken out at a stage of the trial in which Galbraith's credibility was the primary issue.

Findlay fined

Mr Findlay, who was then the vice-chairman of Glasgow Rangers, was recorded on videotape singing at a private party.

He later resigned from the football club and was fined �3,500 by his professional body, the Faculty of Advocates.

The jury at the High Court in Glasgow in 1999 threw out a plea by Mr Findlay to convict Galbraith of a lesser charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility.