by Martha Vaughan

A MAN serving life in prison for bludgeoning his former partner to death and dumping her dismembered remains in a bin can appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Steven Jackson attacked Kim MacKenzie, 37, before carrying out the dismemberment in a bath and left her remains in Montrose, with the help of his girlfriend Michelle Higgins in October 2015.

A hearing is scheduled to take place in Edinburgh next month. 

It will set out the timetable for the full hearing before three senior judges for Jackson, 41, who was ordered to serve a minimum of 26 years after being convicted of murder.

Jackson battered his 37-year-old former girlfriend with a hammer before stabbing her dozens of times at a flat in the Angus town. The following day he chopped up Ms McKenzie in a bath and, with help from his girlfriend, dumped parts of the mother-of-three’s body in bins across the town.

Along with Jackson, Higgins was convicted of attempting to defeat the ends of justice over the efforts to dispose of the corpse.

CCTV captured the pair walking through the streets of the Angus town with parts of their victim in a green suitcase and child’s rucksack.

Higgins was sentenced to eight years in prison for her part in the crime, after claiming she had become involved because she was frightened of her murderer boyfriend.

A procedural hearing has now been scheduled for July 12 and a date for the full hearing is likely to then be set.