Freed British man hopes to marry ex-wife

A British man who spent 21 years on Death Row in the US was reunited with his ex-wife today – and revealed he wants to marry her again.

Kenny Richey, who returned to the UK two weeks ago, said he would be spending a month with Wendy Amerud after she flew into Edinburgh Airport this morning.

The couple married in 1984 but divorced a year later.

Richey, 43, who was put on Death Row in 1987 over an arson attack in which a toddler died, revealed today the pair were hoping to rekindle their romance.

He told the Edinburgh Evening News: “I don’t know if I will propose while she’s here. I love her and want us to get married, but we’ll have to see how things go.”

They will be staying at his mother’s flat, in the Dalry area of the city, where Richey has been living since his release.

He went on: “She’s coming over to stay for a month. She’ll be staying here at mum’s, which won’t give us a lot of privacy.

“But we’re going to see how things go together and if she likes Edinburgh. If she does, she plans to move here for good.”

Richey also spoke of fears about his heart problems, which he believes could leave him dead within a year.

He plans to see a doctor next week to find out if he needs surgery.

And he is also concerned that his high profile will lead a stranger to attack him in Edinburgh.

Richey, who was born in Holland but grew up in Edinburgh, was put on Death Row in January 1987 after being convicted of an arson attack on a block of flats in an Ohio town in which Cynthia Collins, a two-year-old girl, died.

But he brokered a plea deal with US prosecutors on January 7, and was sentenced to time he had already served, allowing him to walk free.

Fears have been raised about the ability of the former US marine, who left his mother’s home in Edinburgh at 18 to live with his American father in Ohio, to cope with freedom in a world that has radically changed since his imprisonment.