Jailed Bradford mother-of-three Zoora Shah today told of her surprise and delight after the jury foreman cast doubt on her conviction.

Mrs Shah, 46, formerly of Legrams Lane, is currently in Durham prison, serving the sixth year of a 20-year sentence for murder.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court, in December 1993, unanimously found her guilty of murdering Mohammed Azam, a married man with whom she had been having a relationship, after she slipped arsenic in his food.

But today it emerged that the jury foreman is now troubled by the verdict and considers it unsafe.

Speaking anonymously to BBC Radio 5 Live, he expressed concern that Mrs Shah's claims of being abused by Azam, a convicted drug dealer, as well as medical details about her mental state, were not put before the jury.

Reacting to the news from her prison cell today, speaking through her daughter Naseem, Zoora Shah said: "I have had to keep faith and I have had to keep believing, but this has really given me something to hope for."

Campaigners who are preparing a direct appeal to Home Secretary Jack Straw to review the case and reduce her sentence today said they were vindicated by the jury foreman's comments.

Shamshad Hussain, of the Keighley Domestic Violence Forum, said: "This is very pleasing news. The jury foreman did not contact us, he contacted BBC Radio Five Live. We do not even know his name, but it gives us more faith to keep hammering on. When people are there to support Zoora and questioning her conviction it can only go in our favour when we appeal to Jack Straw.

"We are now planning to step up the campaign in Bradford and will be having a stall in the city centre to collect signatures."

Pragna Patel of the Southall Black Sisters, which has spearheaded the campaign, said: "This vindicates our position that Zoora's new evidence should have been put before a jury. Zoora Shah and her children now feel vindicated, but we still face an uphill battle."

Miss Hussain appealed to anyone else with any knowledge about the case to contact the appeal urgently. "It will be treated in the strictest confidence," she said.

The appeal office can be reached on (01535) 210999.

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