Click here to watch Richey arrive in Scotland.

As welcoming committees go, Kenny Richey's was pretty impressive.

The massed ranks of the media, curious airport staff and assorted passers-by created a crowd bigger than for any returning sports team at Edinburgh Airport's international arrivals last night.

Even campaigners from Amnesty International who turned out to welcome Mr Richey back were told by airport officials to stand outside in the rain because there was "no space" for them in the terminal.

When the former death row Scot finally appeared through the arrival doors, dressed casually in a drab jacket, jeans and trainers and accompanied by his brother, Steven, the camera flashes illuminated a pale, ill-looking man.

Walking up to a cross taped earlier on the floor before a host of microphones, he seemed slightly dazed as he was bombarded with questions.

Asked how it felt to be home, Mr Richey, who has a history of heart problems, said: "It feels great, it's good to be back. I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me all these years."

He paused briefly for photographers and to make his short statement before heading outside into the wet Scottish winter evening.

Outside, the frenzy continued for a few more minutes as the crowd pursued Mr Richey to a waiting silver car.

On his way to the vehicle, he said a quick "hi girls" to the young women from Amnesty International clutching their anti-death penalty placards, but there was no time for them to say much in return - or to hand him a bottle of Irn-Bru brought as a welcome-home gift.

Asked what he thought of the US justice system, he replied simply: "It sucks."

Reaching the car, Mr Richey held aloft a lion rampant flag, thrown to him by a quick-thinking photographer, before wrapping it around his shoulders as he got inside.

And in a few more seconds he was whisked off into the night, to whatever his future now holds.

Some travellers could be heard discussing the main event, "that Kenny Richey, the one on death row".

Reporters explained to several inquisitive passers-by that Mr Richey was the Edinburgh raised 43-year-old who had just been freed after spending half his life in jail - and coming within an hour of being executed during that time.

For those who had turned up at lunchtime, when Mr Richey was originally due to fly in, the wait for flight LH4942 from Frankfurt was all the longer.

In all, his journey back to the UK had been a slow affair. He missed his first hearing in Ohio on December 20 last year after a heart scare.

And he was delayed by several hours yesterday when his flight from Chicago to Heathrow was cancelled because of bad weather.

He managed to board a flight to Frankfurt, where he caught a connecting flight to Edinburgh.

The Scot 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.

In August last year, the sentence was overturned at the Cincinnati Court of Appeal and Richey was moved from the notorious Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio to a low-security prison.

He pleaded no contest on Monday to charges of attempted involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and breaking and entering at the Putnam County Common Pleas Court in Ottawa, Ohio.

He was sentenced to a total of 21 years - time he had already served.

After being freed, he said that it had been "a long time coming".

He also thanked supporters who "never doubted my innocence".

However, there were dramatic scenes in court as Richey faced an angry reaction to his plea deal from relatives of the baby girl.

Pointing at Richey, Cynthia's aunt Valerie Binklay said: "I want you to know you've fooled nobody no more. Nobody. You will burn in hell."