The UK Government has welcomed the decision to release two British nurses being held in jail in Saudi Arabia over the murder of an Australian colleague.

The people of Dundee, Lucille McLauchlan's home town, offer their opinions (0'32")

Deborah Parry and Lucille McLauchlan have been freed from custody after the decision by the Saudi monarch, King Fahd, to commute the sentences. They are expected back in Britain on Thursday morning.

Yvonne Gilford was found stabbed to death at a military hospital complex in Dhahran, on Christmas Eve 1996.

Robin Cook: "I'm delighted the King has made this generous humanitarian act" (0'23")

The two nurses were accused of the crime and spent 17 months in prison before Wednesday's announcement.

But they have not been pardoned. The Saudi embassy in London said the decision to commute the sentences was made on humanitarian grounds.

Deborah Parry was found guilty of murder and was facing a public execution. Lucille McLauchlan was judged to have played a lesser role in the killing and was sentenced to eight years and 500 lashes.

Both women say they were forced to confess to a crime they did not commit and later retracted their confessions.

Tony Blair's official spokesman said that the prime minister believed the decision to free the women was "a generous act by the king". But he stressed that Mr Blair had not and would not be commenting on the presumed innocence or guilt of the nurses.

The Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, said he was delighted. He called it a "generous humanitarian act".

Solictor Peter Watson: "We hope the news we've heard is accurate" (1'42")

But in a new twist to events, Scotland's Crown Office said McLauchlan, 32, has been ordered to appear in court in Dundee on June 18. She will be charged with an offence of theft dating back to 1996.

It has also emerged that both women are to be paid substantial sums of money for selling their stories to the national press

Lawyers acting for the brother of the dead Australian nurse Yvonne Gilford have demanded the immediate release of "compensation".

Frank Gilford agreed to accept about £750,000 in return for deciding to waive his right to call for the death penalty on Parry, 39, and McLauchlan.

Frank Gilford has not received the money

Mr Gilford, who lives in Australia, gave a hollow laugh when he was told that the decision had been described as a "shining example" of Saudi justice. "Is that what it is?" he asked.

"I suppose these women are going to get home and make a $20m film of their lives now. That's what I heard on the radio," he said.

The money is already held in Australia, but the nurses' lawyer, Salah al-Hejailan, said that he would not release it to the Gilford family if they insisted on calling it "compensation" rather than "blood money".

The "humanitarian" decision came from King Fahd

"They call it compensation, and compensation means admission of guilt while the court said all along it's blood money," said Mr al-Hejailan.

He said he was not going back on the promise of payment, but added it had not been decided whether the full sum would be handed over.

Sentence was never officially pronounced on Deborah Parry, but last year a law firm acting for the Gilford family claimed she had been found guilty and would be executed.

Hopes for an early release of the two were raised in March this year and boosted still further by Tony Blair's visit to Saudi Arabia last month, during which he raised the issue of the nurses' plight with King Fahd.

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