Colombia hostage tastes freedom

Mark Henderson paid tribute to his fellow hostages

A British hostage released by Colombian rebels has celebrated his freedom with a meal of cheese and Coca Cola.

Mark Henderson, who was released on Monday after 102 days in captivity, is expected to fly home on Christmas Eve.

The 32-year-old television producer has spent the night at the British ambassador's residence in Bogota after undergoing a medical examination.

He was released with four Israeli fellow captives after mediation by Catholic church negotiators.

Mr Henderson was among eight tourists held by the National Liberation Army (ELN) on 12 September, during a trek the 2,500-year-old Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) Indian ruins.

News of his release was greeted with relief back in Britain by Mr Henderson's parents Sharelle and Christopher, who were able to speak to him by phone on Monday.

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Their son was able to joke when his father simply said "Hi" to him, having had no certainty he would come out alive.

He said: "Hi? Three months in the jungle and you say 'hi'. Is that it?"

He told his parents: "I'm absolutely fine. About two stone lighter."

Susan Lejeune, a spokeswoman for the British Embassy in Bogota, said: "Mark is in good shape physically and mentally but is understandably very tired."

Both Mr Henderson and the embassy wanted to pass on their thanks to the negotiators, she added.

'We've got him'

Sharelle and Christopher Henderson said their son's return from the South American jungle to Pateley Bridge in Yorkshire would be an "extra Christmas present".

His mother told the BBC: "I just felt from the beginning that Mark would be home safely. It's just wonderful.

"It was lovely to hear his voice, he sounded extremely cheerful."

In a reference to US Iraq administrator Paul Bremer's now infamous quote about the capture of Saddam Hussein, Mr Henderson's father Christopher had earlier told reporters: "Ladies and gentlemen, we've got him, he's on the aeroplane."

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Mr Henderson landed at Colombia's Valledupar airport on the first leg of his journey home at 1800 GMT on Monday, and later flew on to Bogota.

He is expected to fly back to London's Heathrow airport, arriving on Christmas Eve.

He said he and the other hostages had been forced to walk for up to 18 hours a day but otherwise had been treated well.

"I wouldn't say that we had been treated badly... sometimes there were problems we didn't want to walk, we were forced to walk a lot. It's very painful, we didn't know what we were walking for."

'Breaking point'

He paid tribute to his four Israeli fellow hostages as "four absolutely amazing guys".

In another interview, Mr Henderson said he had been suffering when the decision was taken that the men would be released.

"One of the leaders of the ELN was with us... we literally were at breaking point and he came up to me and said, 'Right, you are being released on Monday',"

The rebels said they had kidnapped the men to publicise the persecution of Indian villagers by rightwing paramilitaries, and not for a ransom.

The ELN and other rebel groups are holding hundreds of Colombian hostages at any given time.

Another Briton, Matthew Scott, 19, also taken with the group, escaped within two days, while a German and Spaniard had already been released.