I'll be at the prison gates to hug my boy

James Richey, who is battling inoperable cancer, said he lives for the day when his son walks free from Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio, a prospect raised this week when a federal appeals court quashed his conviction for murder and lifted his death sentence.

"It would mean the world to me to be able to hug my son. I would like that so much," said Mr Richey, 66, who plans to make the 2,000-mile journey from his home to the jail once his son is released.

"I?ll be there at those gates when he comes out. I just want to wrap my arms around him and tell him that I love him," he said.

Paying tribute to the hundreds of well-wishers whose support helped carry his son through 18 years on death row, he added: "If there hadn?t been this level of interest, Kenny Richey would have been spoken about in the past tense, because he would have been executed a long time ago.

"If it wasn?t for the people of Scotland and the lawyers and everybody who fought for him, my son would be a dead man. God bless them."

Kenny Richey left his home in Edinburgh in 1982 to be with his American father, who was divorced from his mother and lived in Ohio. Four year later, he was sentenced to death for setting fire to the home of a former girlfriend, whose two-year-old daughter perished in the blaze.

For years, his father visited him on death row, but they have now not seen each other since the summer of 2001.

"He had an appeal going through then and we were almost positive we were going to win that one, so I told Kenny, ?I?m not going to visit any more until you walk out of that prison.?

"Unfortunately time dragged on, and I?ve not seen him for going on for four years," said Mr Richey, who had surgery last year and is undergoing hormone treatment for advanced prostate cancer. He now lives in Washington state.

"Kenny tried to call me a couple of days ago, but I was out of the house. He wanted to give me the good news himself, but I wasn?t here for the big moment. Then my daughter-in-law called me. It sounded too good to be true."

He added: "I?m still in the clouds, this has liberated me. It?s about time somebody realised what a terrible mistake they have made. That?s 18 years that he?s lost of his life. He?s lost his good health, he?s missed out on Christmases, New Years, birthdays - just evenings together with his family.

"There?s never an opportunity of getting it back, it?s gone so I can well imagine how bitter he is."

Kenny Richey, speaking exclusively to The Scotsman from jail on Thursday, expressed his anger at the deficient handling of his case by his original defence lawyer, William Kluge, in 1986, calling him a "moron".

However, his father said: "My anger originally was vented on Bill Kluge, but since then I have realised how failed our justice system is and so I don?t feel so much animosity towards him as I do pity.

"It?s just a shame that he wasted all that money going to law school and ended up being the plumber who blocked up all the pipes."

Kenny Richey has dismissed the notion that he could enter into a plea bargain - "It?s a matter of honour. No bargains, no deals, no nothing," he said.

His lawyer, Ken Parsigian, plans to speak to state prosecutors next week to determine whether they plan to appeal against the court?s latest decision, which could potentially keep him in prison for years, or proceed to a retrial, which he is confident of winning.

"It?s been quite a week, but what case could be more important than this, a case involving a man?s life?" said Mr Parsigian. "I?ve never had a win as good as this, and now I?ve got it I want to keep it."