Teddy row teacher 'in total shock'

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Gillian Gibbons, 54, embraced her children and spoke of her ordeal minutes after landing in London.

Mrs Gibbons - who was jailed for 15 days and faced calls for her execution - said she was in "total shock" as she faced the media at Heathrow airport.

Delighted to be home and holding her son John's hand, she added: "I went out there to have a bit of an adventure and got more of an adventure than I bargained for."

She said: "I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends and to have a good rest. It has been an ordeal but I was well treated in prison and everyone was very kind to me."

There was no trace of bitterness towards Sudan, with Mrs Gibbons saying: "I am very sorry to leave Sudan. I had a fabulous time. It is a beautiful place and I had a chance to see some of the countryside.

"The Sudanese people I found to be extremely kind and generous and until this happened I only had a good experience. I wouldn't like to put anyone off going to Sudan," she added.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to Mrs Gibbons on her arrival in Britain, after she had spent more than a week in custody for allowing her seven-year-old pupils to name a teddy bear Mohammed.

She was sentenced to 15 days in prison but was released early after a rescue mission from British peers Lord Ahmed of Rotherham and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi. Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir granted a pardon on Monday.

Asked about the teddy bear row, she said: "I don't really know enough about it. It is a very difficult and delicate area. I was very upset to think I might have caused any offence."