US state ready to execute first woman in century

VIRGINIA was moving forward last night with its first execution of a woman in nearly a century amid appeals from the European Union.

Teresa Lewis, 41, was scheduled to die by injection at 2am Irish time this morning at Greensville Correctional Centre in Jarratt for the October 2002 hired killings of her husband and stepson. To procure the hit men, prosecutors said, she used sex, cash and a promised cut of the insurance benefits the killings would reap her.

The US Supreme Court and Gov Bob McDonnell declined to intervene. All her legal appeals had been exhausted, her attorney said.