Even Bill Cosby’s own support team did not expect him to be released from prison on Wednesday afternoon.

His long time public relations manager Andrew Wyatt had to scramble to the maximum security prison outside Philadelphia, where Cosby has spent almost three years, in a Subaru van owned by the disgraced entertainer’s housekeeper.

Prison officers allowed him to enter and exit from an underground car park with Cosby in the passenger seat, evading news crew helicopters hovering overhead.

“As he was leaving, inmates were banging the walls and shouting ‘you’re free, you’re free,'” said Wyatt. “He was saying to me: ‘Andrew, my heart is racing, not in a bad way, in an amazing way because you will go down in the history books as one of the greatest civil rights icons and this is civil rights’.”

Not everyone in America shares that view. Cosby is now 83, legally blind and so frail he required help to his front door, raising his hand in a peace gesture. But many firmly believe he should still be behind bars.

Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the Me Too era and more than 60 women have accused him of offences against them, ranging from groping to rape.

He was sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison in 2018 after being found guilty of drugging and molesting Andrea Costand, an operations manager for a university basketball team for which Cosby was on the board of trustees.

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Other women who accused him chanted “guilty, guilty, guilty,” outside court afterwards. But Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has now ruled his conviction be overturned because women testified against him despite their cases being past the statute of limitations. He had also made a deal with a previous prosecutor that he would never face criminal charges.

Cosby returned immediately to his house in Elkins Park, suburban Pennsylvania, after his release. One elderly neighbour, Patricia Griffin, showed up shortly afterwards, walking stick in one hand and flowers and strawberry cake in the other. “I just thought he might appreciate it,” she said.

“I don’t know the rights and wrongs of it but I do know he’s 83 and he’s coming home after three years with a lot of shame attached to him.”

He wasn’t so warmly welcomed by everyone. Armed with a megaphone and a placard, Bird Milliken, chanted “remove the statute of limitations for rape” outside his front door.

She was a constant presence at Cosby’s original trial and is outraged at his conviction being overturned.

This is a decision that will divide America. On the flipside is Anthony Brown who is holding a ‘Bill Cosby Innocent’ placard and, like Cosby’s lawyers, believes the overturning of his conviction is “justice for black America”.

Cosby has always maintained his innocence and cannot now be retried, but many believe he is guilty as charged.

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