Karen has no regrets over Death Row Campaign

Dumped 

Then, when it looks as though he will be released, his ex-wife and son come back into his life. He says publicly he is dumping her and going back to his wife, his family cut her out of the campaign and accuse her of keeping money.

Who wouldn’t be bitter?

Yet despite all that, Karen refuses to hit back. Hell may have no fury like a woman scorned but Karen Torley has only one thing to say about Kenny Richey — he is innocent.

Fatal fire

None of the headlines, insults and allegations have dented her belief that the ex-Marine was not responsible for starting the fire that killed two-year-old Cynthia Collins in Ohio in 1986.

What they have done, however, is to drive her from the helm of the campaign she has run almost single-handedly for so long.

“I'm not its manager any more and I want nothing to do with fundraising,” she says.  “But I’ll still answer e-mails, answer questions and do what I can.

“I’m certain of Kenny’s innocence but some of his family have questioned my honesty. Kenny himself knows this money stuff is not true but it’s damaging the campaign.

“He and I broke up last July but we kept an appearance going for the sake of the campaign. It was business as usual.

“Kenny’s supporters have been appalled. I’ve told them none of this stuff should have been in the papers and that what’s important is getting Kenny out. But this is losing him sympathy.”

Insults

The insults have been personal and hurtful. Richey was quoted as saying she was a “gold-digging drunk”.

His father Jim told tabloid newspapers police were investigating her over missing campaign funds.

“This has been horrible, nasty, vicious and vindictive,” she says.

“I’ve spent so much time and energy on this and cared so much, only to end up the victim of a smear campaign.

“I don’t blame Kenny so much. He is under great stress and is being pulled this way and that.

“I spoke to his mum Eileen and she says he denied saying the stuff about me being a gold-digging drunk. So who did?”

Karen openly doubts the motives of Richey’s ex-wife Wendy and son Sean for becoming part of his life again.

Her own feeling is that they were drawn by the possibility of huge sums of compensation after his conviction was quashed by an appeals court, a decision later reversed by the Supreme Court.

“We tried for 10 years to get a photo of Kenny’s son for him but we were always knocked back.

Wendy later said she received all our letters but that ‘the time hadn’t been right’.

“Suddenly, last year, when it looked like he was getting out, they wanted to know Kenny again.

“He said to me, ‘So what makes the time right now?’ We both came out with the same answer — money.”

Innocent

Karen firmly believes Kenny’s family saw her as someone who would get a share of the millions of dollars they thought he would get. In fact, she says, he’s unlikely to get anything unless proved innocent at a retrial.

“Everything I was doing was fine in their eyes until it seemed he was getting out. I went from his ray of light to the anti-Christ overnight.

“Jim Richey said I shouldn’t be personally involved with Kenny. He said that ‘my job’ was to campaign for an innocent man.

“Now he has questioned my honesty in public by saying I was withholding money supporters had given for Kenny. It’s nonsense.

“There was one time Kenny asked me to send money and I didn’t.

“There was the grand total of £26.99 in the pot and I told him it was pointless me spending £3 to get a bus into Glasgow then being charged by American Express to send that little.

“He’d have been lucky to get £15 out of it.

“Kenny’s dad Jim then sent an e-mail to Strathclyde Police claiming money was missing and contacted a reporter to say I was being investigated.

“I contacted the police but they had no idea what I was talking about.

Investigation

“Eventually, a fraud squad officer confirmed the complaint didn’t merit an investigation.

“I’ve nothing to hide. A look at Kenny’s prison account for the past 10 years or so and the phone costs will show exactly where any money went.”

Karen freely admits receiving money for a documentary about the campaign — money Jim Richey now says should have gone to Kenny.

However, she insists she and Kenny had an agreement over that payment.

Having been in Karen’s Cambuslang council house, it’s fair to say there’s precious little evidence of much money, misappropriated or otherwise, having been spent on it. Instead, it looks like a family scraping by as best they can.

“I don’t deserve any of this, nor does my family or Kenny. He is in a difficult enough situation and is the one who will suffer most.

“I don’t regret starting the campaign because there was a terrible injustice but I do regret getting emotionally involved with Kenny.

“And I regret everything that has taken away from all the hard work people have done.

“I just hope people remember Kenny is still sitting in that prison.

“It is not about the nonsense Jim Richey has put in the Press, it is about the evidence that shows Kenny is innocent.

“But if Jim Richey doesn’t stop his nonsense, he might as well just sign Kenny’s death warrant.”

Discuss this article on the forums. (4 posts)