By James Silver BBC Radio Five Live reporter

Scot Kenny Richey has been on death row in Ohio since his conviction in 1987 for an arson attack which killed a two-year-old girl. Now despite compelling new evidence, time is running out for Prisoner A194764.

In an exclusive interview for BBC Radio Five Live report, Kenny Richey said he was innocent of the crime he was convicted for but knew he faced death if his legal team was unsuccessful.

His lawyer has filed his brief for a last-ditch appeal arguing compelling new evidence means there should be a retrial. The court is expected to rule in January 2003.

If it fails, Richey faces death by lethal injection.

I vsited Kenny at Mansfield Correctional Institution, his home for over 16 years.

Richey grew up in Edinburgh but when his parents divorced, he decided to move to the US with his American father.

"Any knives, guns, hand-grenades, rocket-launchers, marijuana cigarettes?" asks a guard on my arrival at Mansfield where the state of Ohio's 200 male death row prisoners are held.

A 20-foot razor wire fence surrounds the prison. The area beyond is known as the "death zone", where guards have the right to shoot anyone attempting to escape.

I am driven the 500 yards to death row by a guard on a golf buggy.

Kenny Richey has been in prison since he was 21

Minutes later, Kenny Richey joins me in a small room. He is wearing shackels around his ankles. His arms are hand-cuffed to his sides.

Walking is awkward and painful for him. A prison official settles down in the corner to read a magazine. Otherwise we are alone behind a closed door.

Despite 20 years in America, Richey's retained, as if through sheer will-power, a heavy Scottish accent.

I ask him about day-to-day life on death row.

"It's the belly of the beast in here," he says.

"You've got your tough guys and guys who just want to be left alone. The food's pathetic. For lunch it was sliced, brown turkey meat with beans. I refused mine today it was that bad."

Loner

I've been here for sixteen years and I'm not the same person anymore

Kenny Richey

He has had two cell-mates in the past but prefers being on his own.

"I'm not the easiest person in the world to get along with. I get very agitated at times.

"I have severe mood swings. I've been here for sixteen years and I'm not the same person anymore. I've changed a great deal. I'm full of hostility and rage.

"At times I've felt like giving up. Taking my own life, getting it over with. I'm tired of all this waiting. Courts dragging it out. I'm not 21 anymore, I'm 38. I've lost most of my life."

Nine years ago, Richey came within an hour of the electric chair - use of which has since been abolished by the state of Ohio and replaced by lethal injection.

He had written his farewell letters. His head and legs had been shaved in preparation. But he was given a last minute reprieve.

"I was ready to go. I'd said my goodbyes, told my mum I loved her. I was ready," he recalls.

Richey was living in the small town of Columbus Grove, Ohio in his early 20s. He describes himself as "wild man", a "crazy head" and a "party animal" in those days.

Accusation

On the night of 30 June 1986, prosecutors claim Richey, in a drunken fury, set fire to an apartment to kill his ex-girlfriend who was sleeping with her new lover in the apartment below.

In the event a two-year-old girl - Cynthia Collins - died in the blaze. Richey, the only suspect, was arrested and charged with arson, aggravated murder and child endangerment.

I've done the time but I didn't do the crime

Kenny Richey

But he has consistently denied having anything to do with the fire, even turning down two plea deals which would have seen him free today or serving out his sentence in Scotland in exchange for an admission of guilt.

He declined both offers.

"I've done the time but I didn't do the crime. I'm not about to admit to something I didn't do. Even if it costs me my life," he says.

The last 16 years have taught him to expect the worst, he says. That way, he is never disappointed.

On Death Row will be broadcast at 1200 BST on Sunday 13 October on BBC Radio Five Live and bbc.co.uk/fivelive.