Uxbridge: After 37 days languishing in a Greek prison cell, the first thing Peter Norris did upon arriving back on home soil was kiss his wife Perdita and enjoy a cup of tea.

The 52-year-old of Hinton Road, Uxbridge was arrested along with 11 other plane-spotters on charges of spying and faced a maximum of 20 years in jail.

But after weeks of feverish diplomatic activity and a campaign led by the prisoners' families, they were finally released on £9,000 bail on Friday last week.

He said: "Getting out of prison is the best present I can get this Christmas. I haven't bought any cards or presents yet so it will be a busy time but I'm just so pleased to be back."

The father-of-five enjoyed a welcome home party on Saturday and fielded a string of calls from well-wishers, but is not enjoying the ribbing from friends after being labelled a 'plane-spotter' in the world's media.

He said: "Being accused of being a plane-spotter is one of the worst things. I'm not one of those types of people in an anorak who hangs around Heathrow.

"I'm interested in military aircraft. I went on the trip because Greek airfields contain very old planes and I'm interested in their history."

When the Christmas pudding has settled and the presents have been unwrapped, he will be preparing his defence against the charge which has now been reduced to a lesser offence of misdemeanour.

Speaking of the trial, he said: "We intend to get back and plead not guilty so we can fight them on their own territory."

He added: "There's no other country in the world like Greece. In any other country they would have told us to leave and that would be the end of it.

"I certainly won't be going on holiday there again."

December 19, 2001 11:30