Captive Faye tells of coffin terror

Leading Seaman Turney, the only woman in the party, has been the particular focus of media attention.

The mother, known as Topsy, was kept isolated from her comrades and told they had been sent home.

She told The Sun newspaper: "One morning, I heard the noise of wood sawing and nails being hammered near my cell. I couldn't work out what it was. Then a woman came into my cell to measure me up from head to toe with a tape.

"She shouted the measurements to a man outside. I was convinced they were making my coffin."

She told the newspaper she was forced to write "confessions" to entering Iranian waters. She was kept in a tiny room measuring 6ft by 5ft 8ins and asked how she felt about "dying for her government".

Recalling the moment she was separated from her colleagues, she said: "With a blindfold on, I was led away from the rest of the guys. All I could hear from behind me was one of them shout, 'they're going to execute us'. It was the first time I got really scared."

At night she was blindfolded and taken to an interrogation room. She said: "Sometimes I would have to go back two or three times. One session went on until 6am." She said the threats became more blatant and she was asked: "Do you not want to see your daughter again?"

She said she feared everyone in Britain would "hate" her if she agreed to make a forced confession, but she wanted to be home for her daughter's birthday next month.

While being filmed by the Iranians, she sent a coded sign by referring to her ship by its pennant number F99 - something sailors would not do.