What would persuade a man who is both a lawyer and chartered accountant to give up a well-paid job on an Island he grew to love; whose lifestyle he considers second to none, and a seemingly bright future, to voluntarily take up the cause of Britons on death row in the United States?

For bachelor Gary Proctor the answer is plain.

"I want to be able to say to my grandchildren when I am 65 that I have done something worthwhile, and made a difference," he says.

As laudable as that sounds, many would question why, with so many worthy causes in the world, he would choose to "waste" his life defending convicted rapists, robbers and career criminals who killed in the course of their crimes and now sit on death row.

But Mr. Proctor does not consider his mission a waste of his life. On the contrary, he truly believes that the people on his list have either been falsely convicted of the crimes for which they are on death row, or else they committed the crimes due to circumstances beyond their control.

In most cases he feels they were poorly represented in court.

Coming from just outside Belfast in Northern Ireland, where sectarian violence has been raging for decades, one could be forgiven for thinking that Mr. Proctor would want to distance himself from anyone connected with violence.

What, then, caused him to change his focus from capitalism to capital punishment?

"I saw a programme on BBC World Service in December, 2000 and the person being interviewed was British-born lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith.

"He was talking about how he had been in the US for 20 plus years, the inequities in the US justice system, and what he has done to help," Mr. Proctor says. "You see noble causes on the television all the time - world floods and so forth - but for some reason when I listened to Clive I thought, 'I have to do something to help'."

When finally he tracked Mr. Stafford-Smith down, he sent him the briefest of e-mails offering to do just that. Back came the immediate response: "You are a godsend."

"He then told me about Tracy Housel, who has been on death row in a Georgia prison since 1985, and who was born in Bermuda," Mr. Proctor says. "What are the odds of someone like that being born here? I am not a religious man, but it seems something was pushing us together."

The Irishman's next move was to travel to the US in February this year to meet both Housel and Mr. Stafford-Smith, which he did in that order.

To his surprise, he found the death row inmate was not some crazed, dead-beat animal, as his record would suggest, but rather someone who was well-read and personable.

"He is a wonderful person, it is as simple as that," Mr. Proctor says. "I really enjoyed meeting him."

If that seems an extraordinary description of a man Police say committed several murders, rape, assault and more, Mr. Proctor hastens to explain that, since Housel has been in prison the medical and addiction problems which he believes caused him to do what he did have been treated, and he is now changed.

"When Tracy committed the murder for which he is on death row he had hyperglycaemia, and that mixed with drugs and alcohol created a psychological state where he didn't know right from wrong."

Mr. Proctor added: "Now he is cleaned up and receiving treatment he is a very different person.

"He is a voracious reader who reads three newspapers a day. He has read every book in the prison library, and is now reading the Bible for the seventh time," he says. "He also crochets - one of the few activities allowed."

Mr. Proctor says that a commonality shared by death row inmates is that "they all have the same background".

"They were abused by alcoholic parents and typically went into foster homes. They rebelled, and turned to alcohol and drugs, and at some point someone tied in a firearm. They never had any money. When you meet them and they are sitting on death row facing you, I ask myself, 'If they were born in my home and I was born in theirs, would they be visiting me?' The answer is a huge, unequivocal 'Yes'. The evil comes from their circumstances."

He once asked Housel if he had ever met anyone who was truly evil. The prisoner thought long and hard before replying.

"Just once," he said. "It was a guard - someone who came into our cells after lights out and beat the crap out of us."

"Oliver Stone's 'natural born killers' don't exist," Mr. Proctor says.

Following his initial meeting with Housel, Mr. Proctor then flew to Louisiana to meet Mr. Stafford-Smith, and again he was impressed.

"You are struck with the intelligence and sincerity of the man. There is no question you can't ask him," he says. "Clive is one of those people who, when they speak, everyone else keeps quiet. He is an American citizen who was originally from Cambridge, England. He has never had any money, but he badgered the EC (now the European Union) for money."

But could Mr. Stafford-Smith be an idealistic dreamer?

"His record speaks for itself," his new-found volunteer says. "Eighty-six percent of the people he has defended have been acquitted. That's pretty impressive."

Thus it was that Mr. Proctor became committed to the cause. He returned to the Island reHe returned to the Island and resolved to hand in his notice at Lines Overseas Management, where he was a corporate finance professional, and relocate to Louisiana. He also began studying for that State's bar exams, part of which he has now taken, with the rest to follow next February.

"The intention is that I will be able to defend them properly after that," he says. "While that is somewhat daunting, on the other hand a frighteningly high number have no representation at all, so all I can do is make it better. I will start as a paralegal, taking witness statements, etcetera."

Mr. Proctor, who will be working an unpaid volunteer, plans to live on his savings, which he estimates will take him through to next March if he is careful. After that, he says whether he will somehow find a salary is in the lap of the gods. If not, he will have to leave the US.

Before leaving Bermuda, he visited Housel several times - one of very few visitors the man has - and Housel also telephoned him regularly. As a result they have become good friends.

"In fact, I always say to Tracy, 'I have derived much more from our visits than you'," Mr. Proctor says.

Gaining access to the prison was easier than he envisaged. Once he was on Housel's visitors' list, all he had to do was complete various security steps on arrival at the prison, and then proceed to a communal room, where all visitors and prisoners meet under the watchful eye of guards and cameras.

"What we don't see is that on his way to and from seeing me Tracy gets strip searched, including his body cavities. Some people won't have visitors because they find that so degrading," he says.

To the Bermuda-born inmate, however, meeting someone who is interested in his case and can bring him news of the Island is worth the degradation, particularly since he is locked up for 22 out of 24 hours, with no view of the outside world and limited activities.

"Tracy is the biggest 'Bermudaphile' you have ever met," Mr. Proctor says. "Without visiting here, it is impossible to imagine someone who knows more about the Island than he does. He watches every travel programme and reads every book about Bermuda that he can. Anything about the Island is cut out and put in his scrapbook. He is fascinated by his birthplace.

"If I visit him for five to six hours, he spends two of them wanting to know about the Island right down to the colour of Trimingham's and the style of the Police uniforms."

Speaking as a lawyer, Mr. Proctor feels the death penalty should be abolished for several reasons: "One, it sends out the wrong message, which is focussing on the perpetrator and not the victim's next of kin. You try to help the family to come to terms with the death.

"Two, it doesn't make economic sense. Due to the long legal process, on average it costs $1.5 million from the time a person is charged with a crime to the execution. For the same money you could keep a person in prison without the death penalty hanging over them for 170 years."

He also contends that "the biggest reason prosecutors seek the death penalty is not the heinousness of the crime, a man's previous record, or any other culpable reason.

"It is the incompetence of the defence attorney", and he notes that "since the United States introduced capital punishment 98 people on death row have been exonerated, so in practice they make mistakes. "The standard of representation is so bad."

Housel's final appeal to the US Supreme Court was made in September. But Mr. Proctor notes, however, that it is extremely rare for the US Supreme Court to overturn a conviction, and he admits that Housel's chances do not look good. While most states, including Georgia, offer life without parole for capital crimes, the 42-year-old has indicated he is not interested in spending a possible 40 more years in jail. His optimum wish, of course, is freedom.

"I asked Tracy what would he most want to do if ever he got out, he said, 'Walk barefoot on damp grass.' He hasn't felt grass since 1985," Mr. Proctor says.

But does he truly believe that his death row friend is a reformed man?

"I think you have to believe in the possibility of redemption," he responds. "You have to believe that at some point someone can pay their debt to society and be a role model - to speak in schools, etcetera."

As for his new mission and all that he has left behind, the Irish lawyer says he has absolutely no regrets. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"I am facing the future with a completely open mind. I have to be one of the luckiest people alive. I am one hundred percent certain that I will enjoy very much what I am about to do. You see the world in 20/20, and realise what is important and what is not."