HIS ARMS outstretched in triumph and as wide as the smile on his face sum up the moment - charity worker Ian Stillman is finally free.

In emotional scenes in the Arrivals hall at Heathrow Airport, Ian, who is deaf and has only one leg, was reunited with his family after a two-and-a-half-year fight for freedom from an Indian jail.

Last night the 52-year-old settled down at the Braishfield home of his sister, Elspeth Dugdale, to enjoy his favourite meal of lasagne, salad and bread, followed by lemon meringue pie.

There was even a 'welcome home' cake, covered in pink icing, made by Elspeth's ten-year-old daughter Grace especially for her favourite uncle.

It was a quiet way to end an ordeal which started with his arrest in August 2000 for a drugs trafficking offence he has constantly denied.

The scenes of a family meal were a stark contrast to the twice daily bowl fulls of curried vegetables Ian would eat on his own in his cramped cell.

For Elspeth, who has led the campaign for his freedom from her home near Romsey, yesterday was when all the worrying, the heartache, the pain, the helplessness and the longing evaporated.

She was overwhelmed with delight and relief when she saw Ian enter Arrivals at Heathrow Airport yesterday morning.

Elspeth, 40, said: "It's a feeling of suddenly finding something you've lost. The relief is just incredible and everybody is just celebrating."

Ian said: "It's brilliant to be free again. I really had no idea I would be home for Christmas - everything's happened so fast."

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Daily Echo, 13 overjoyed members of Ian's family were waiting to greet him, along with a huge throng of media.

Elspeth's children Jake, 11, Grace, ten and Jesse, eight, were the first to shower him with hugs and kisses, followed by Elspeth and her sisters, Jenny and Alison.

Ian beamed with happiness to see his family, and in sign language he expressed his delight to be home, spreading his arms and giving the thumbs up sign.

Ian, who returned with his son Lennie, 23, and Elspeth's husband Jerry, also met the latest addition to his family - his great-nephew Luke - who was born when Ian was 14 months into his ten-year sentence at the jail in the Himalayan foothills.

Ian served a total of two and a half years before being released on Saturday on grounds of clemency for health reasons.

Ian, a charity worker among the deaf in India, who was originally from Reading, was charged when police stopped a taxi he was travelling in and found 20kg of cannabis in the boot.

He insisted he knew nothing about the drugs but - after a trial in Hindi when he was not allowed a sign language interpreter - he was sentenced and then refused leave to appeal to India's Supreme Court.

Ian's wife Sue and daughter Anita, 20, will follow from India soon and the family will spend a celebratory Christmas with Elspeth in Braishfield.

Elspeth - who last saw Ian in India in February - said: "It's fantastic. I'm so relieved because he looks great.

"There's been so many ups and downs over the last two-and-a-half-years because you get your hopes raised and then dashed, and that's really, really tough. Other people can share the grief and upset but nobody carries it in their head like you do."

Stephen Jakobi, director of human rights organisation Fair Trials Abroad - which has spearheaded the Free Ian Stillman Campaign - blamed police corruption in India for Ian's plight and criticised the UK government for not acting sooner.

He said: "This is no ordinary miscarriage of justice. In my experience and my organisation's experience we have never come across anything quite like this."