Child killer moved to Royal Edinburgh after razor attack

The transfer of the 47-year-old American comes after she was slashed in the face with a broken razor last month.

It is understood that staff at the Capital’s psychiatric hospital have been briefed to expect Riggi’s imminent arrival.

Court psychiatrists, who examined Riggi following the killings, found she suffered from narcissistic, paranoid and histrionic personality disorders.

Riggi was previously a patient in the Orchard Clinic at the Royal Edinburgh – a medium secure unit for people with mental health problems – where she was monitored following her children’s deaths.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien later made a “private pastoral” visit to devout Catholic Riggi while she was undergoing treatment at the clinic.

Sources suggested Riggi was being moved in the wake of the attacks in prison.

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said it did not comment in individual prisoners and would not comment on the reason for any transfer. An NHS Lothian spokeswoman said the health board was unable to comment on the case.

Riggi killed her eight-year-old twins, Austin and Luke, and her five-year-old daughter, Cecilia, at their Slateford Road home on August 4 last year.

Riggi had used a different knife to kill each of them, as church music played in the background.

The victims were found lying side by side in a bedroom after a gas explosion at the home, following which Riggi plunged from a second-floor balcony in a suicide bid.

She was ordered to serve 16 years after pleading guilty to three counts of culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility at the High Court in Edinburgh in March. A judge later ruled that she should be deported back to the United States after serving her jail term.

On December 6, a female prisoner was charged with an alleged razor attack on Riggi in her cell at Cornton Vale on November 19.

The move came days after a 22-year-old was charged with assaulting Riggi, after she was allegedly thrown down a flight of stairs.

Inmates have reportedly told how Riggi spends most of each day hiding in her cell out of fear of being targeted for attack.

Riggi admitted killing her three children as she was locked in a legal battle with her estranged husband, Pasquale Riggi, over access and custody of the youngsters.