I WILL HOLD MY HEAD HIGH AND LET THE WORLD KNOW I AM INNOCENT

Speaking from Mansefield Correctional Institution, Ohio, defiant Kenny, 40, told the Sunday Mail: 'I will hold my head up high and let the world know I am an innocent man.

'I know that I have Scotland behind me, willing me to clear my name and come home.

'I have every confidence that if I get a fair trial, I'll be coming home soon.

'And that's a dream worth fighting for.

Prosecutors in Putnam County, Ohio, chose the 19th anniversary of the fire death of Cynthia Collins, two, to announce a retrial after the case was overturned on January 25 by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court threw out the case on the grounds that Richey's trial attorneys were inadequate and the section of law prosecutors relied on to seek the capital murder charge was invalid.

Kenny Richey had hoped to be on his way back to Scotland already. But Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers announced on Thursday after reviewing the evidence: 'There's enough to warrant new charges.'

Insiders say Lammers will press once more for the death penalty.

But Richey said: 'I've already faced 13 execution dates and I'm certainly not afraid to face a fair trial now.' On June 30, 1986, Cynthia's mother Hope went out drinking, leaving the toddler in the block of flats where she lived alongside Richey in Columbus Grove, Ohio.

Edinburgh-born Richey, who had followed his American father into the US Marines, had been drinking heavily and he had a broken arm which was in a plaster cast.

But prosecutors claim Richey, in a drunken rage to get even with an ex-girlfriend, stole a can of petrol, climbed up two storeys without spilling a drop and set a fire. They also claimed he dismantled a smoke alarm.

With an inexperienced lawyer to represent him, Richey received the death penalty.

Since then, it has emerged Cynthia Collins was fascinated by fire and emergency services had been called several times. Her mother repeatedly dismantled the smoke alarm because it went off when she was cooking.

And fire experts now have evidence to prove the fire was started accidentally.

Richey said: 'If anyone looks at the full facts of this case, they'll see I've been wrongfully convicted. I feel in my heart that Cynthia's death was a tragic accident.

'On the night of the fire, I tried three times to get inside that burning building to pull her out. But I was pulled back from the flames.

'Her death was a tragedy for two families, hers and mine.'

Richey could have been freed 10 years ago if he had accepted a parole deal. He said: 'I could never hurt a child and never would. That's one of the reasons why I've fought to clear my name rather than take any deal which would have set me free.'

His girlfriend Karen Torley, 42, who has campaigned to see Richey freed, said: 'We're looking at this turn of events as a victory rather than a setback. Kenny has always wanted a new trial, and even 19 years on Death Row hasn't broken him.'

Richey's lawyer Ken Parsigan is determined to fight the action.

He said: 'I took this case because I believed Kenny was innocent and I've never wavered in that belief. I believe Gary Lammers is playing politics with Kenny's life