A SCOTTISH man on death row in the United States was told yesterday that a successful appeal to overturn his conviction would stand and he must be retried or set free within 90 days.

Kenny Richey, 40, originally from Edinburgh, has been facing execution for 18 years for arson and murder in the state of Ohio. Amnesty International has called it the “most compelling case of innocence on death row”. He has always maintained that he did not start a fire that killed two-year-old Cynthia Collins in 1986 in Columbus Grove, Ohio.

Last January he won an appeal against his sentence at the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

The state of Ohio then tried to have the appeal ruling set aside but this was turned down yesterday. The decision means that Mr Richey must now be set free, otherwise the state must file a fresh petition to the US Supreme Court asking for a retrial.

Yesterday Mr Richey’s fiancée, Karen Torley, 41, from Cambuslang, Glasgow, said: “This injustice has gone on long enough. It is time to set Kenny free and let him live with his family.” Ms Torley, a mother of four, met Mr Richey after she started writing to him in jail and they became engaged in 1998.

Amnesty International UK and Reprieve, the UK death penalty defence charity, who have campaigned for his release for years, welcomed the news.

Kate Allen, Amnesty’s UK director, said: “It is surely time for Ohio to accept the view of its senior court and set about releasing this man immediately.”

Clive Stafford-Smith, of Reprieve, said: “Now the prosecution must decide whether or not to retry him. I am confident that if they take the time to sit down and objectively review all the evidence they will come to the conclusion that Kenny is innocent and end the case.” Appeals have been made on Mr Richey’s behalf by the late Pope John Paul II and the actress Susan Sarandon. In a resolution passed in June 1992, the European Parliament expressed its doubt about the validity of the sentence and last year the British Government confirmed that it had a “comprehensive lobbying strategy” over the Richey case.

On one occasion a decade ago Mr Richey’s head was shaved ready for execution.

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