Saved from death row

A British man who has been on death row in America for 18 years for the murder of a two-year-old girl had his conviction and sentence overturned unexpectedly by the US Court of Appeals yesterday.

A federal court in Cincinnati ruled that Kenneth Richey, 40, who was convicted in 1987 of killing the girl in an arson attack in Ohio, must be retried within 90 days or freed because he received incompetent counsel at his trial.

It said the trial court’s handling of the case “undermined our confidence in the reliability of Richey’s conviction and sentence”.

Human rights campaigners, MPs, Hollywood actors and even the Pope pleaded to save Mr Richey from the electric chair. However, a string of appeals were rejected and the court’s decision in his favour came as a complete surprise.

Mr Richey’s lawyers hired an unqualified forensic expert to investigate the fire and did not adequately challenge the state investigator’s handling of the case, the court said.

Ten years ago, Richey, who has always maintained his innocence, came within an hour of being electrocuted before a stay of execution. He had even had his head shaved in preparation.

Kenneth Parsigian, his lawyer, said Mr Richey was “very excited” by the news. “He just hooted and then said, ‘Thank you’ - three thank-yous.”

Mr Richey was sentenced over the killing of Cynthia Collins, the daughter of his ex-girlfriend, who died in 1986 at her mother’s home in Columbus Grove, Ohio. Mr Richey, who grew up in Edinburgh, had gone to start a new life with his father in Ohio in 1981 and had served three years in the US marines.

The prosecution claimed at his trial that on the evening of June 29, 1986, he went to a party to celebrate his imminent return to Britain to work as a nightclub doorman.

It was alleged that he got drunk, stumbled off and - some time later - a fire broke out at a nearby apartment block. Cynthia was trapped in her bedroom and died from smoke inhalation. The jury was told that a jealous Mr Richey had intended to kill his ex-girlfriend, who was sleeping downstairs with her new boyfriend.

During the trial, at which he was accused of starting the fire by pouring petrol and paint thinner on a carpet, Mr Richey twice rejected plea-bargain deals which would have spared his life if he admitted arson.

But in 1997 two witnesses who claimed that Mr Richey had previously threatened to burn down the apartment, retracted their statements. Meanwhile, subsequent forensic evidence suggested that the fire was started accidentally and that the carpet had never contained any inflammable substances.

Mr Richey’s plight has been a cause celebre in Britain, prompting two documentaries questioning his guilt and many letters protesting against his conviction. In 1999, the Pope wrote to the governor of Ohio’s Mansfield Correctional Unit, where Mr Richey lived in a 10ft by 8ft cell, asking for him to be spared.

The American actress Susan Sarandon was one of numerous celebrities who, together with the European Parliament, backed claims that “compelling” evidence supported a retrial.

Mr Richey said last year: “We have enough evidence that proves my innocence. But the courts don’t care. Once you’re convicted, that’s it.

“You could have someone come forward and admit that they set the place on fire but you’ve already been convicted, so that’s it.”

A spokesman for the US Attorney General said lawyers were considering whether to contest the appeal court’s decision.

Mr Parsigian said he hoped the State of Ohio would decide not to retry Mr Richey, given the amount of time he has spent in jail and the court’s conclusion that evidence was mishandled.

He said: “The evidence has been badly undermined. It would be a real injustice at this point to put Mr Richey through this again, based on what the court had said.”

Karen Richey, Mr Richey’s fiancee, from Cambuslang, Glasgow, said last night: “I am shocked but obviously delighted.”

The mother of four, who entered a relationship with Mr Richey after becoming his pen pal 10 years ago, has never been allowed to touch her boyfriend. But the lack of physical contact has not prevented her from changing her name from Torley and visiting him in jail. “It is going to be overwhelming to see him when you think that I have only ever seen him behind glass before,” she said.

Miss Richey, 41, said she had broken the news to Mr Richey’s mother Eileen, 60, from Edinburgh.

“I had to tell her about five times before she believed it was happening,” she said.

In March last year 150 MPs signed a Commons motion backing Mr Richey’s claim of innocence after Tony Blair pledged to look into the case.

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