Killer Malcolm Webster is to have his conviction and sentence reviewed.
The former nurse applied for his case to be examined by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), and the body has now decided there are grounds for a review.
Webster was jailed for 30 years after he was found guilty of murdering his first wife Claire Morris then attempting to kill another woman.
He drugged his new bride in a staged car crash near the couple's home in Aberdeenshire in 1994, then set their car alight.
He was only caught when he tried to repeat the crime with his second wife, Felicity Drumm, in New Zealand five years later.
Webster lodged an application with the SCCRC earlier this year to have his conviction and sentence reviewed.
Yesterday it emerged that his application had passed the first stage.
The SCCRC board will refer the case back to the high court if the criminal review body believes there has been a miscarriage of justice.
Webster, who had worked as a nurse at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, murdered his first wife Claire Morris so he could cash in on her life insurance.
A few years later he secretly insured the life of his second wife Felicity Drumm for £750,000, then tried to kill her in a copycat car crash in New Zealand in 1999.
Police began investigating both cases when one of Ms Drumm's sisters contacted British police to report her suspicions in June 2006.
The SCCRC board is expected to rule next year on whether his case will be referred back to the high court.
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