A convicted killer has launched a legal battle to buy the council house where he killed his partner with chloroform.

Craig McCreight is serving life for murdering Yvonne Davidson at the house they shared in Broxburn, in West Lothian, in February 1999.  McCreight wants to use "right-to-buy" legislation to purchase the house at a discounted price.  

West Lothian Council is arguing he should not benefit from a crime and it claims he could not acquire the benefit of the tenancy in consequence of the murder and therefore has no right to buy.

The local authority had previously made an offer to sell the house to him, although he was already behind bars for the murder at the time.

Law lords today ruled that the tenancy dispute should be settled in the courts

McCreight is still currently appealing his conviction for the murder of Miss Davidson. She was found in a neighbour's garden, but for three years her death was put down as a tragic drug-linked accident.

But further evidence emerged and in 2002 McCreight stood trial at the High Court in Edinburgh and was found guilty of murder and was ordered to serve at least 18 years of a life sentence.