Coffins containing the bodies were put on a British Airways flight from Azerbaijan to earlier on Tuesday morning.

Relatives of the Britons Darren Hickey, Rudolf Petschi and Peter Kennedy and New Zealander Stanley Shaw went to Gatwick Airport to collect the remains.

Relatives are preparing funeral arrangements

The men, who had been working for Surrey-based Granger Telecom installing a phone system in Chechnya, were kidnapped in October by Chechen rebels. Their severed heads were found by the roadside on 8 December following a bungled rescue attempt by the Chechen authorities.

The kidnappers had refused to hand over the rest of the men's remains but the bodies were found on Christmas Day on the outskirts of the Chechen capital, Grozny.

The bodies had been transported from Chechnya over the border to Azerbaijan late on Monday night.

A spokeswoman for Gatwick airport said: "It was touch and go whether they would actually get on the plane last night but in the end they did.

"The coffins have been unloaded and taken to a safe area within the airport where they are being collected by relatives away from the public gaze."

Foreign Office officials were also at the airport to meet the bodies, although no embassy staff had travelled on the aeroplane.

Relatives of the four men are now making funeral arrangements.

"It is a relief to have the feeling that they are finally coming home," said Mr Hickey's father, Eamonn, on Monday night. "We are still devastated but at least there will be a funeral after all."