Richey to sell story of Death Row ordeal for £50,000

Published on Saturday 5 January 2008 19:28

KENNY Richey is expecting a five-figure pay deal when he arrives back in Scotland after 20 years on Death Row.

The Scot has struck a deal with two tabloids and a TV station to tell his story in return for thousands of pounds.

His publicity team have defended the move pointing out he will not receive any compensation from the US justice system after 20 years waiting to be executed for murder and will therefore arrive penniless.

Richey, a former US Marine who was brought up in Edinburgh, was sentenced to death in 1987 for murder and arson after a young child died in a house fire. He denied the charges and, since then, he and his supporters have fought to overturn his conviction.

Last month, he pled guilty to a series of lesser charges in a plea bargain, but then fell ill. He is now expected to return to Scotland after a court hearing tomorrow.

Richey has agreed to sell his story to two tabloid newspapers, and to a TV news show, in return for a sum believed to be in the region of 50,000.

Max Clifford, his publicist, defended the move. He said: "Kenny did not receive any compensation for his time on Death Row, despite many people feeling strongly that he should have.

"So he's arriving in Britain without two brass ha'pennies to rub together.

"The money he will receive will be enough to help him for a couple of years while he gets himself established."

Richey has told friends he wants to take up photography and he hopes to tour Scotland, taking pictures of landscapes and ruined castles.

Karen Torley, his former fiance, who led the campaign to have him released, said she would not be at the airport to see him come home.

She said: "I'm so happy, but I feel a little bewildered that it's all over. For so long it's just been my life.

"I don't think I'll actually believe it until I see him. But I won't be at the airport, I feel that's the time for him to be with his family."

Torley added that she had been sending him information to help him adjust to life outside jail and keeping him up to date with changes in Edinburgh. Richey's mother, Eileen Richey, lives in the Dalry district of the city.

Torley said: "I've been keeping him up to date with things like prices and changes. Showing him pictures of what the money looks like and things.

"When Kenny went over there, a packet of crisps was about 10p. And there's the smoking. I just hope he doesn't get into trouble for lighting up in a pub."

Richey was convicted after Cynthia Collins, a neighbour's two-year-old daughter, died in 1986 when fire ripped through her home in Columbus, Ohio.