British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler finally left Somalia today after more than a year in captivity.

The couple, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, were reportedly handed over to local officials in Adado after a ransom was handed over to their kidnappers, ending a 388-day ordeal.

This afternoon the pair flew into Nairobi, ahead of their transfer to the British High Commission.

In a statement, the couple's family said: ''Yesterday evening, we received the wonderful news that Paul and Rachel Chandler were to be released by the Somali pirates who had held them in captivity since October 23 2009.

''The videos that were shown on television earlier this year indicated that they were coping with the conditions and were in relatively good health.

''But we cannot yet be certain how the difficulties that they have had to endure in recent months will have affected them physically and emotionally.''

Relatives asked for them now to be given the opportunity to adjust and return to their families and friends.

They added: ''Throughout the protracted discussions with the pirates it has been a difficult task for the family to get across the message that these were two retired people on a sailing trip on a small private yacht and not part of a major commercial enterprise involving tens of millions of pounds of assets.''

The family said: ''Both Paul and Rachel are in good spirits although very tired and exhausted by their experience.''

But they refused to comment on how the couple's freedom was negotiated saying only that common sense had ''finally prevailed''.

''There will be the inevitable questions of how their release was achieved,'' they said.

''The family believes it would be irresponsible to discuss any aspect of the release process as this could encourage others to capture private individuals and demand large ransom payments, something that we are sure none of us wants.''

The couple began their journey to freedom by road at 6am (3am GMT) before they were received by the local administration in Adado three hours later.

They were then flown to Mogadishu where they were taken by convoy to meet the Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government, Mohamed Abdullah Farmajo.

This was followed by a flight across the Kenyan border to safety, arriving in Nairobi at 5.40pm (2.40pm GMT).

They will now both have medical checks before being flown back to the UK.