A COMPULSIVE spender said to have plotted her husband's murder to clear mounting debts has won the right to challenge the safety of her conviction.

But a judge has warned Christina Button, 33, not to be over-optimistic about the outcome of her appeal later this month.

Button was jailed for life in December 2003 along with her nephew, Simon Tannahill, over the murder of her "gentle giant" husband, George.

The prosecution claimed Tannahill, then 20, ambushed Mr Button, 53, while he was walking his dog along a quiet lane near the Button's home in West Rainton, County Durham.

It was claimed that Button and her nephew plotted the murder at a time when Button was motivated by pressure from mounting debts.

The prosecution argued that Button hoped to gain £450,000 from her husband's death and had once told a neighbour she would be a rich woman if Mr Button died.

Her QC, Alistair Webster, challenged the conviction on the grounds that the trial judge should have excluded evidence of a video recording taken at the police station, where Button was allegedly seen telling Tannahill not to tell police anything because it was a breach of her human rights.

Mr Webster also argued that the jury should not have been told details of a previous theft or testimony from neighbours about her lavish spending habits because it "created a very unpleasant picture of her, which would have been very disadvantageous to her".

Mr Button died within days of the attack, in March 2003, with his wife at his hospital bedside. In the weeks that followed, she sent flowers to the crime scene and acted the role of a mourning widow.

Button, who has always denied masterminding the murder, was said to have an uncontrollable spending obsession and had built up debts of £197,000.