After 7,861 days on Death Row in the US, Richey finally comes home

IT WAS a journey he must have thought he would never make. Yesterday, Kenny Richey returned home to Scotland more than two decades after being sentenced to death for the murder of a two-year-old girl.

After touching down at Edinburgh Airport at 5:45pm, the 43-year-old defiantly held his fist in the air and declared: "It's great to be back". After 7,861 days on Death Row in the United States, which saw him come within an hour of execution, the fact that his homecoming was delayed by just over three hours because of bad weather was a minor inconvenience.

Richey, who was accompanied by his brother, Steven, along with a member of the charity Reprieve, which had campaigned for his release, hummed to himself as the plane landed on home soil.

Richey – released from prison in Ohio on Monday after a plea deal – briefly shared his thoughts with a huge scrum of reporters, photographers, campaigners and curious passengers, who gathered at the international arrivals gate to witness the man who thought he would never live to see the day.

Looking tired but relieved, he said: "It feels great. Thanks to everyone who supported me over the years. It's good to be back."

Asked what he thought about the people who put him behind bars, he answered: "You don't want to hear that."

Richey then raised a fist for the cameras before he was ushered into a waiting car. He obliged photographers by sticking his head out of a window and holding a Lion Rampant.

The former US marine now faces a world of uncertainty. He has spoken about his desire to take up photography and to campaign with the charity Amnesty for the release of other people on Death Row.

Some precious stability will be provided by his mother, Eileen Richey, who has prepared a room for her son at the tenement flat she shares with her partner in the capital's Dalry district.

She has seen her son only a handful of times since he was convicted of setting fire to the home of his former girlfriend, and murdering her daughter Cynthia Collins, two, on 27 January, 1987.

Richey always protested his innocence and, in August, he won an appeal against his capital conviction. On Monday he entered a "no contest" plea to reduced charges.

Mrs Richey was not at the airport to greet him yesterday, waiting instead at a hotel, where the pair were reunited last night.

Support groups, including the charity Reprieve, the community-safety body Sacro and Edinburgh social work staff, have met to discuss the help that Richey might need, including supported accommodation, as he attempts to adjust to life after spending half of his own locked in isolation for 23 hours every day.

Last night Karen Torley, Richey's former fiancée, who has campaigned tirelessly for his release, said she was looking forward to meeting him as a free man. "I'm very excited for him. It's an emotional day," she said.

Clive Stafford Smith, the legal director of Reprieve, who has been a member of Richey's legal team for 15 years, said:

"What matters most is that Kenny finds the support he needs to rebuild his life. For many (people in his position] adjusting to freedom turned out to be the hardest battle of all."

THE FILM, OF THE BOOK, OF THE NEWSPAPER EXCLUSIVE

KENNY Richey arrived in Scotland accompanied by representatives from a Sunday newspaper who, along with a rival publication and two television companies, have paid Richey a reported £35,000 for the story of his 21 years on Death Row.

Various media deals are likely to net him around £100,000, possibly much more if his remarkable story is translated to cinema.

PR guru Max Clifford, who negotiated the lucrative interviews also confirmed he had been in touch with book publishers and documentary makers.

Mr Clifford said yesterday: "There is a lot of interest from press, (and] from television worldwide."

He defended the media deals saying: "He is not getting millions of pounds in compensation for the 21 years he has been locked up and this is the only chance he has got of making some money that he can live on.

"He hasn't got two ha'pennies to rub together.

"He has a story that the media want and I imagine you're allowed to make money from the story that the media want, that the media will make money from."