A HAMPSHIRE woman who has been fighting for her brother to be released from an Indian jail has been given the perfect Christmas present - his freedom.

Charity worker Ian Stillman, who is profoundly deaf, has one leg and suffers from diabetes, was given a ten-year jail sentence two years ago for an alleged drug-trafficking crime which he has always denied.

But after a determined battle by sister Elspeth Dugdale and his family, friends, fellow charity workers and Romsey MP Sandra Gidley, Mr Stillman walked free from the advancing bitter cold of winter in the Himalayan foothills at 1.30pm British time on Saturday evening.

Outside the jail Mr Stillman was greeted by his wife Sue, son Lennie, 23, daughter Anita, 20, and his brother-in-law Jerry Dugdale from Braishfield, near Romsey, who have spent the last three weeks in India fighting for his freedom.

It was the latest of many such trips made by Mr Dugdale and other members of Mr Stillman's family and now they are delighted to be bringing him home.

He is expected to be back on British soil on Friday morning.

As the dedicated charity worker began his journey south to Delhi, Elspeth and her children Jake, 11, Grace, ten, and Jesse, eight, were jubilantly making cakes, presents and a 'Welcome Home' banner.

"They are really looking forward to seeing him and this has given me a different outlook on Christmas. I have felt a bit out of it over the last couple of years, but Ian's release has changed that and we are absolutely thrilled. This is a huge relief.

"We will probably end up with a hectic Christmas, but a happy one," said Mrs Dugdale.

She admitted that she had feared for her brother's health as he faced a further eight winters in the Himalayan foothills.

While pointing out that conditions at the prison were not particularly bad, she said: "The prison has no heating and the possibility of another winter there was quite worrying.

"A lack of medical attention could have been extremely dangerous and with Ian not being given leave to appeal, I don't know if he would have survived another eight years."

Mr Stillman, originally from Reading, was arrested two years ago when about 20 kilograms of cannabis was found in a taxi he was travelling in.

He insisted throughout that he knew nothing about them, but was given a prison sentence and was refused leave to appeal by the Indian Supreme Court earlier this year.

But after he had walked free on grounds of clemency because of health reasons, his sister-in-law praised everyone who had fought for his freedom and added: "Sandra Gidley, our MP, has worked so hard and has been very tenacious on this."

Both Mrs Dugdale and Stephen Jakobi, director of Fair Trials Abroad, praised Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Mr Jakobi also spoke of "enormous pressure" from the deaf community. Fair Trials Abroad described the sentence as "the worst miscarriage of justice" they had ever dealt with.

Mr Stillman has lived in India for 30 years and has set up a number of charities.