A Briton who spent 21 years on Death Row in the US is finally on his way home.

Kenny Richey, 43, was freed from prison in Ohio on Monday after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors over an arson attack in which a two-year-old girl died.

Richey's return was delayed when his flight from Chicago to Heathrow was cancelled because of bad weather.

But his solicitor Ken Parsigian said he had now boarded a flight to Frankfurt in Germany. He is then expected to catch a connecting flight to Edinburgh.

Richey was convicted in 1987 of an arson attack on a block of flats in an Ohio town in which toddler Cynthia Collins died. But in August last year the sentence was overturned.

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.

Mr Parsigian said Richey's first few hours of freedom showed promise for a "smooth transition" to civilian life.

He said: "He got into civilian clothes for the first time, and he seemed to transform into a civilian. It was quite a smooth transition, I was surprised."

© Independent Television News Limited 2009. All rights reserved.