A British citizen who spent 20 years on death row in the American state of Ohio has accepted a plea bargain and is expected to be freed in time for Christmas.

Kenneth Richey, whose case prompted the intervention of Tony Blair, the Pope, the European Parliament and Amnesty International, was convicted of setting a fire that killed his ex-girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter in 1986.

In August this year that conviction was quashed by a federal appeals court after doubts were cast on the testimony of witnesses, the scientific evidence was shown to be unsound and Mr Richey's defence lawyer at the trial was ruled incompetent.

The 43-year-old Scot, who has seen around 15 appeals fail in the past two decades, is likely to be released within days according to his lawyer.

Ken Parsigian said: “It is the greatest Christmas present that I or Kenny could have have asked for.

“The State wanted him to plead guilty and he would not do that. They have agreed to drop murder, to drop the arson and took the most basic minor face-saving deal of no contest. There was nothing left for them to fight about.”

“Kenny is excited and he is thrilled. He is a little nervous as he now has to find a way to get back into the real world.”

Mr Richey, who is a British and an American citizen, will plead no contest to attempted involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and breaking and entering tomorrow. He is expected to be sentenced to time already served.

Alistair Carmichael, a Scottish MP who had campaigned for Mr Richey’s release and visited him on death row, described the news as a “tremendous result”.

“The reality of somebody who is kept locked up in a cell for 23 hours a day for 19 years is quite mind-blowing,” he said.

“It is a dreadful, inhumane and dehumanising system. If one man is off it, then remember there are hundreds of people in America still enduring that dreadful situation.”

Mr Richey had left his mother's home in Edinburgh aged 18 to go and live with his American father in Ohio.

American officials accused Mr Richey of setting fire to the flat above the one belonging to his former girlfriend in the Ohio town of Columbus Grove with the intention of killing her and her new boyfriend. The only victim was Cynthia Collins, 2, who had been left at home alone.

Mr Richey always protested his innocence and lawyers argued that the only evidence was circumstantial. Authorities initially ruled that the fire was accidental, but claimed at trial that Mr Richey had started it deliberately by pouring paint thinner and petrol on to the carpet and setting fire to it.

In 1996 arson experts said that the ruling was based on "unsound scientific principles" and that the fire was probably the result of smoking materials being discarded carelessly.

Amnesty claimed that the toddler was known to have played with lighters, cigarettes and matches and had started at least three fires.

Mr Richey was partly convicted because he had been at a party in the same complex as his former girlfriend's flat on the night of the fire and he was accused of having previously threatened to burn down the building.

The trial was conducted by three judges without a jury on the advice of the defence lawyer. Prosecutors credited him with trying to save the toddler, but the judges refused to accept that.

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