Death row inmate describes harrowing nightmares after brutal botched execution

A death row inmate who survived a botched execution has described his ongoing nightmares and health issues resulting from the incident.

Thomas Creech, 73, was sentenced to death for five murders committed across three states and was due to be executed by lethal injection in February at Idaho Maximum Security prison outside Boise.

But, the execution failed leaving Creech suffering and traumatised. Creech said: "Some days I'm not even sure if I'm going to live until the next day. I have chest pain all the time...I continue to have nightmares.''

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He described one recurring nightmare to in which ''I wake up and I'm back on that table,'' and another where he enters the room to find his wife on the execution table instead of him.

Medical staff struggled for nearly an hour to administer the lethal drug into Creech's veins, attempting first his arms, then hands, and finally his legs before ultimately calling off the execution.

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The death row inmate shared his horrifying experience with the New York Times: "The worst ones was when they got down to my ankles. I was thinking the whole time that this is really it. I'm dead. This is my day to die."

He claims the medical team had conducted numerous tests on him and should have been aware of how they would carry out the execution, given his particularly challenging veins.

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He said they had prior knowledge of his ''bad veins'', noting that ''even when they did blood draws on me for diabetes and stuff'' they had observed it, and that his ''attorney had warned them."

He said: ''Every two weeks they would take me down to medical and they would practice doing the execution'', but not on Creech himself.

He added: ''They would go back and forth into the room and have somebody act like they were me. ''