One of the four men convicted and later cleared of killing Carl Bridgewater has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill a Birmingham newspaper girl.

Michael Hickey was held by police after allegedly telling the 12-year-old: "Do you know who I am? I'm going to kill you."

However, he insisted: "I've been fitted up. It's a vendetta."

Hickey, 45, is alleged to have confronted the girl as she did her round near his council flat in Kings Heath, Birmingham.

She ran home to her parents, the police were c alled and Hickey was arrested on Friday.

Hickey, who recently moved to the area, said: "Somebody has seen me in the street walking past a papergirl and, thinking of Carl Bridgewater, has put two and two together. People obviously don't know I've been released and am innocent."

Hickey was wrongly jailed in 1979 for the murder of 13-year-old newspaper boy Carl.

The teenager was shot dead as he called at Yew Tree Farm, near Stourbridge, a year earlier. Also jailed for murder was Michael's cousin Vincent Hickey and Jimmy Robinson. A fourth man Patrick Malloy, was found guilty of manslaughter.

Hickey spent 18 years in prison before the four verdicts were quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1997. He was later awarded £990,000 compensation subject to deductions for the cost of living expenses.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "A 45-year-old man was arrested on Friday on suspicion of threats to kill. He has been bailed pending inquiries."