Thai drugs charge man flies home

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There were emotional scenes at London's Heathrow Airport as Jody Aggett was greeted by his five-year-old son, Ryan, his parents, Lorna and Tony, and his twin sister, Tammy. Mr Aggett's Thai girlfriend, Ramphia Lo, gave birth in jail after she was sentenced alongside Mr Aggett following their arrest in 2001.

The couple decided to send Ryan home to his grandparents in Swindon, Wiltshire, and Tuesday was only the second time that the little boy has met his father.

Mr Aggett was jailed for life in 2003 after his sentence was commuted from the death penalty originally imposed.

He had been staying above a travel agent's in Bangkok with Ramphia Lo, known in the family as Kristin, when they were both arrested. Mr Aggett's parents said the couple were allowed to stay rent-free if they opened and closed the shop each day but the agency's owner, unbeknown to them, was manufacturing Ecstasy in the building.

The couple were advised to plead guilty but refused and his family have been campaigning, along with Fair Trials Abroad, for their release for six years.

On Tuesday, Mrs Aggett said she would be welcoming her son home by "surrounding him with lots of family love" as well as a barbecue, beloved in her native South Africa, and an ice-cold beer.

"Jody has been our strength throughout all of this and Ryan has been such a great comfort because every time I saw him I saw a little bit of Jody and Kristin."

She said she would "always admire and love" Kristin for allowing the little boy to be sent to the UK.

Mr Aggett, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, looked tired and drawn after his long flight. He told waiting reporters that he had never expected to see freedom: "In that court I was expecting the same sentence again."