Richey quizzed over attack on 63-year-old

POLICE plan to question freed Death Row Scot Kenny Richey in connection with an assault on a 63-year-old man in Polwarth last night.

The man was hospitalised after an incident in Watson Crescent.

Residents last night said blood was smeared across the walls and a large pool of blood had gathered at the bottom of a communal stairwell.

Unconfirmed reports suggest the victim had been "dangled from the stairwell", and had suffered a head injury. He was taken to hospital where he was kept for observation overnight and his condition was described as stable.

Edinburgh-born Richey will be included in police inquiries into the incident.

No charges have been brought at present – although police say an arrest may be forthcoming at some point today.

A police spokesman said: "Inquiries are ongoing after police were called to an incident in Watson Crescent where a 63-year-old man was assaulted. He was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he is in a stable condition."

Speaking from her Dalry home this morning, Mr Richey's mother Eileen, 63, said she was "concerned" about her son's potential involvement in the incident.

She added: "I've not heard from him for two weeks. I'm just back from holiday. I spoke to him before I went away and he seemed fine."

Police were called at around 7pm yesterday. Officers stood guard over the stairwell entrance until a council cleaning crew arrived shortly after 10pm.

Watson Crescent resident Paul Hamilton, 26, said: "There was a large pool of spattered blood about three feet in diameter at the bottom of the stairs and a trail leading from the first floor.

"From the way the blood was smeared across the wall, it looks as though someone was injured and bleeding and had tried to make his way down the stairwell but had staggered into the walls on the way down."

Another resident said: "I was speaking to one of the neighbours who was there at the time, and he told me how he came in to find a man running past him at speed in the stairwell. He didn't give any description of the man."

A large police presence of three police cars and a van remained on the scene until about 9pm. A police photo crew was also seen leaving the building at around this time.

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "We're all a bit frightened. The police were outside and there were two or three police cars in the street. There was blood on the ground floor of the building."

Mr Richey, who spent 21 years on death row in America for the murder of a toddler in Ohio, was freed after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. He returned to Edinburgh earlier this year.