This is the shocking picture of a killer mum who ripped out her young son’s heart mingling with unsuspecting shoppers.

The Daily Record captured Farai Chirashi buying a pastry from Greggs, visiting shops and strolling along an Edinburgh street just 18 months after she butchered her five-year-old boy Scott.

Chirashi – ruled insane – was on a supervised outing from medium-secure Orchard Clinic at Royal Edinburgh Hospital.

But last night, victims’ charities hit out at the “disgraceful” decision to allow Chirashi – who believed she was on a “mission from God” when she killed Scott – being able to mix with the public less than two years after the incident that shocked Scotland.

 

It was only 14 months ago that a judge ruled she be detained without limit of time after she was declared insane by psychiatrists.

At the time, prosecutors said they were “satisfied that the public will be protected by her detention in a secure hospital”.

But Chirashi, 33, is able to mingle with oblivious shoppers on regular outings.

Reporters watched as the Zimbabwe-born killer – wearing a headscarf – walked along Edinburgh’s Morningside Road escorted by a female staff nurse on Friday afternoon.

She stopped near a Marks and Spencer store and played with a mobile phone before moving on to Greggs, where she was served by unsuspecting staff.

 

Minutes later, she was munching a pastry from the bakers on the street.

After an hour, Chirashi then ambled back to her secure unit.

On December 5, 2014, paramedics found Chirashi with her son’s mutilated body at her home in Alva, Clackmannanshire.

Shocked 999 crews said the little boy had suffered “a sickening and violent death”. His heart had been cut out of his body.

Emergency workers involved in the case were offered counselling.

Chirashi sent a warning to pals weeks before his death, saying: “The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and return to God and give your life to Jesus.”

 

But court claims that she would be held in a secure hospital have been ignored – as she gets out for regular shopping trips.

Last night, David Hines, of the National Victims’ Association, said: “This is disgraceful. The public are promised safety and security but there is no such thing.

“For her to be walking about on the streets 18 months after such a horrific act is outrageous

“First she was insane and now she is allowed to walk the streets. If she is sane, she should be charged with murder.”

Chirashi was charged with Scott’s murder and detained under the Mental Health Act while doctors assessed whether she was fit to stand trial.

In April 2015, judge Lord Burns acquitted Chirashi of murder and ordered her to be detained in a secure mental hospital without limit of time.

A senior psychiatrist told the High Court in Glasgow that Chirashi had a psychotic illness with symptoms of schizophrenia.

 

Dr John Crichton said she was suffering delusions and hallucinations with “abnormal religious content” when she killed her son.

His report added that she had believed she was on “special mission from God”.

He agreed with prosecutor Bruce Erroch that Chirashi was continuing to make a good recovery from her illness.

But he added that she had committed “an act of homicide with particularly disturbing features” and would need “supervision for the foreseeable future”.

Her lawyers lodged a special defence of insanity, stating she was unable to “appreciate the nature and wrongfulness” of what she had done. Prosecutors accepted the special defence.

The Crown Office said later that Chirashi had been charged with murder before doctors had given their opinion on her state of mind.

A spokesman added: “The unanimous opinion of the expert reports concluded that the accused was insane at the time of the incident. Therefore, she could not, in law, be found to be responsible for her actions.

“We have therefore accepted that she was incapable, by reason of mental illness, of appreciating the nature or wrongfulness of her actions.

“The Crown is satisfied that the public will be protected by her detention in a secure hospital.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government – who are responsible for restricted patients – said last night: “Due to patient confidentiality, we are unable to comment on individual cases.”