JUDGES are to meet to decide on the future of jailed nurse Barbara Salisbury at a hearing, which takes place on April 11.

Ward sister Salisbury, 48, was jailed for five years for trying to murder Frank Owen, 92, from Nantwich, and May Taylor, 88, from Crewe, at Leighton Hospital in 2002.

She was found not guilty of attempting to murder James Byrne, a 76-year-old retired salesman from Davenham, in 1999, and Reuben Thompson, 81, a retired furniture maker who lived in Crewe and worked in Middlewich, in 2002.

Salisbury strenuously denied all of the charges and her family have repeatedly protested her innocence, which culminated in an appeal being lodged against her conviction.

Her defence counsel maintained throughout her trial that these were not mercy killings and that she had been the victim of a hate campaign mounted by colleagues at the hospital.

High Court judges will now decide if the nurse can fight against her conviction in court.

A spokesman for the family said: "This is the best news that the family has had for a very long while. They are now hoping for a positive outcome on April 11."

It is the second time Salisbury will have set her hopes on an appeal.

She first lodged an appeal in August last year but three months later a single judge turned down the request.

In November 2004, appeal papers were again lodged with the court and Salisbury has been waiting for a decision since that time.

If leave to appeal is granted it means Salisbury's defence team will be able to introduce new evidence and call witnesses not called by the prosecution in the original case.