British man moved off death row

Kenny Richey has always protested his innocence

A Briton moved off death row in the US after two decades is in "good spirits", his leading supporter has said.

Kenny Richey's conviction for murder over a fire which killed a two-year-old girl in Ohio was overturned last month.

The 43-year-old, originally from Edinburgh, was transferred on Monday from Ohio's death row to another jail.

Karen Torley, head of the Kenny Richey campaign, said he seemed "very upbeat". Amnesty International called for him to be granted bail ahead of his retrial.

Amnesty's Scotland director John Watson welcomed the news Richey was coming off death row.

On the way to the other jail he managed to get his head out of the window which he enjoyed because he has not had the wind in his hair for a long time Karen Torley, head of the Kenny Richey campaign

"Having experienced the dreadful ordeal of getting only shoddy justice and then having to fight desperately for years to clear his name, Kenny is at least now away from the mental torture of life on death row.

"No-one should have to face a death penalty in the first place - now the important thing is that Kenny gets a proper retrial and the opportunity for justice long denied to him.

"On humanitarian grounds, we would now like to see Kenny granted bail as he prepares for his retrial."

Ms Torley, Richey's ex-fiancee, said: "He said that on the way to the other jail, he managed to get his head out of the window which he enjoyed because he has not had the wind in his hair for a long time."

She said a bail hearing was expected to be held in the next few weeks but Richey was not getting his hopes up.

"He just says he will wait and see," she said.

Aggravated murder

JoEllen Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Ohio department of corrections, confirmed Richey had been transferred from a state prison in Ohio to a county jail in Ottawa.

Prosecutors plan to try him again on aggravated murder, aggravated arson and child endangering charges.

Richey was 18 when he left his mother's home in Edinburgh to live with his American father in Ohio.

In July 1986 he was arrested for the murder of Cynthia Collins, who died in a fire at her mother's apartment.

The prosecution claimed Richey started the blaze because his estranged former girlfriend and her new lover - supposedly the intended targets - lived in the flat beneath.

But Richey, a former US marine, has always protested his innocence, saying he received ineffective counsel in his trial.