Death row Scot would 'strangle' prosecutor

Published on Sunday 13 October 2002 01:00

DEATH Row Scot Kenny Richey was today set to lay bare his bitter grudge against the man he claims condemned him to 17 years under the shadow of the executioner - and bluntly admits he would strangle him.

Richey, 38, reveals the strain of almost two decades protesting his innocence of the murder of a child, in a programme to be broadcast on national radio today.

In the interview from his Ohio prison cell, Richey outlines the frustrations that have driven him to contemplate suicide - and reveals he harbours a long-standing resentment against one of the prosecutors in his case.

He also describes how he was ready to die nine years ago, but won a reprieve within an hour of facing the electric chair.

And, in another revealing interview, his American father Jim maintains Edinburgh-born Kenny’s innocence - but admits that his other son deserved his 65-year jail sentence for shooting dead a woman in Washington State.

During On Death Row, on Radio Five Live, Kenny Richey talks frankly of his grudge against Randolph Bassinger, the assistant prosecutor he threatened to kill during his trial.

"I told him I would cut his throat and I was serious," Richey said. "The man was out to get me."

"I would love to put my hands around his neck and strangle 17 years out of his arse."

Richey and his family have fought a long battle since he was convicted of starting a fire that killed two-year-old Cynthia Collins in 1986.

The prosecution alleged Richey used petrol and paint thinners to set fire to the apartment below Cynthia Collins’ bedroom in a bid to kill her mother, his former lover, Hope Collins, and her new boyfriend.

However, experts have since cast doubts over the forensic tests used to decide the fire was arson .

They argue the fire was accidental, most likely caused by a discarded cigarette, or even by Cynthia herself, who had a history of starting fires.

The human rights group Amnesty International claims that his is "the most compelling case of innocence on Death Row", which includes some 4,000 prisoners awaiting execution in jails across the United States. Richey is one of 200 Death Row inmates in Ohio alone.

Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon is the latest high-profile figure to add her voice to calls for a retrial .

Richey grew up in Edinburgh, but moved to the US in 1981. Five years later, both he and his brother Tom were in jail, convicted of separate murders. Tom Richey is serving a 65-year sentence in Washington State for shooting a woman dead during a shop robbery in 1986.

"There is no denying [Tom] is guilty," Jim Richey told the programme’s presenter, James Silver.

"He was high on drugs - acid. He shot two people, execution-style, the way he was taught as a ranger in the army. One died and one lived. He got 65 years for it.

"Kenny didn’t murder anybody and he is paying the full penalty for it."