Death row Scot 'free in a week'

Kenny Richey has spent two decades on death row

A Briton who has been on death row in the US for 21 years is expected to be freed in one week, his lawyer has said.

Kenny Richey has agreed a plea deal which will allow him to walk free and fly home to Scotland once a court hearing has taken place on 7 January.

It had been scheduled for 20 December, but was postponed after a heart scare.

Richey, who has come within an hour of execution, was convicted in 1987 for a fire which killed a toddler, but last August that conviction was overturned.

'Jealous attack'

His lawyer, Ken Parsigan, said the 7 January hearing would take place at 1pm in Ohio - about 6pm in the UK.

"The only reason that will not take place is if he winds up in hospital again. He will leave to fly back to Scotland on 8 January," Mr Parsigan said.

At the earlier hearing, Richey had planned to plead no contest to attempted involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and breaking and entering.

The plea would see him being sentenced to time already served.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but a statement that no defence will be presented.

Richey, originally from Edinburgh, was put on death row in January 1987 after being convicted of starting a fire in which two-year-old Cynthia Collins died.

Prosecutors claimed he began the fire as a jealous attack on his former girlfriend and her new lover, who lived in the flat beneath.

The Scot, who has always protested his innocence, refused a plea bargain which would have led to an 11-year sentence for arson and manslaughter.