British lawyers are calling on the government to intervene in the case of a Scottish man who has spent the past 15 years on death row following his conviction for arson and aggravated murder.

His lawyers argue there is insufficient evidence to support the conviction.

Kenny Richey was accused in 1986 of killing a child in Ohio who died in a house fire; last week the state Supreme Court refused to consider any further legal arguments.

This has left his defence team with less than three weeks to file additional briefs to the federal court.

Clive Stafford-Smith - an English human rights lawyer - said there was no forensic or witness evidence to back the sentence, and accused the US justice system of being an 'Orwellian world' where guilt or innocence was irrelevant.

Paula Rohan