Tracy Reid, Danielle and Lee Gaytor

A judge agreed to the delay to allow further psychiatric reports on Danielle Reid's mother.

Last month, Lee Gaytor, 25, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Perth to murdering Danielle at a house in Argyll Street, Inverness.

The child's mother, Tracy Reid, 25, and Gaytor's brother Christopher, admitted perverting the course of justice by helping to dispose of the body.

At the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday, the proceedings were put on hold when prosecutor Hugh Irwin asked for more time.

He told the judge Lord Hardie that the defence had submitted a report on behalf of Reid from psychologist Mairead Tagg.

Remanded in custody

The Crown asked for an extension to study the psychologist's findings and prepare an independent assessment from a doctor at the State Hospital, at Carstairs.

Lord Hardie agreed and ordered Reid, boyfriend Lee Gaytor, 25, and his brother Christopher, 23, to return to court later this month.

Lee Gaytor and Reid were remanded in custody, while Christopher Gaytor remains on bail.

Five-year-old Danielle Reid was repeatedly beaten by Lee Gaytor and thrown down stairs at her home in Argyle Street, Inverness, in November.

The schoolgirl's body was recovered by police from the Caledonian Canal two months after she was killed.

Lee Gaytor pleaded guilty to murdering Danielle and to conspiring to defeat the ends of justice.

Christopher Gaytor helped conceal the body

Tracy Reid pleaded guilty to conspiring to defeat the ends of justice by dumping her daughter's body in the Caledonian Canal in a weighted suitcase.

Christopher Gaytor, of Hopewell Road, Hull, also admitted assisting in the concealment of the body.

At the trial it was revealed that Danielle survived the attack but no-one called a doctor and she succumbed to her injuries.

Dr Tagg has previously submitted evidence in the case of Kim Galbraith, who was originally convicted of murdering her policeman husband.

Dr Tagg said Galbraith suffered abuse from her husband.

She was originally found guilty of murder and jailed for life, however, at a retrial the Crown accepted Galbraith's plea to the reduced charge of culpable homicide.

She was jailed for 10 years by Lady Smith for what she described as a "shocking offence involving staggering violence by the use of a firearm".