The killer of Dundee toddler Brandon Muir will be released from prison within days.
As exclusively revealed by The Courier in June, Robert Cunningham is set to go free under the terms of his sentence.
Brutal Cunningham was locked up for 10 years in 2009 for culpable homicide following the death of Brandon, his girlfriend’s 23-month-old son.
Under early release rules and the fact he had spent a year on remand, Cunningham will be set free after serving two-thirds of his sentence.
The Courier revealed in June that would be before Christmas and a source says he could be released next week.
Brandon died in March 2008, having suffered more than 40 separate injuries in the three weeks after Cunningham moved in with the boy’s mother, Heather Boyd, at Balunie Crescent.
Medical experts said the death was caused by a “massive blow” to his stomach, but a post-mortem examination also found numerous other injuries.
Cunningham denied murdering Brandon, but was convicted of the lesser charge of culpable homicide by a majority verdict at the High Court in Glasgow in March 2009.
Brandon’s heroin addict mother was acquitted of culpable homicide. She had been out working as a prostitute on the night of the tragedy.
When she returned home, the toddler was already unwell, but she and Cunningham took him to a party, where he vomited brown liquid.
He was eventually taken home and, at around 4am, Boyd noticed he was no longer breathing. She called an ambulance but it was too late to save his life.
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said it could not comment on matters involving individual prisoners.
Brandon’s grandmother, Veronica Boyd, said at the time of the court case the 10-year sentence was “not enough,” adding: “He has stolen…our grandson from us. If it was up to me, I would throw away the key.”