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A British teacher jailed in Sudan because her students named a teddy bear Mohammed has spoken of how her taste for adventure snowballed into a terrifying ordeal.
Gillian Gibbons enjoyed an emotional reunion with her family at London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday after being released from a Sudanese jail where she spent eight days for insulting Islam.
Beaming before a large media pack, and with her teary son John at her side, the 54-year-old teacher expressed her sorrow for having offended the Sudanese.
"Could anyone ever imagine that this could happen," she said.
"I am just an ordinary middle-aged primary school teacher.
"I went out there to have a bit of an adventure and got a bit more.
"I don't think anyone could have imagined it could have snowballed like this."
The mother-of-two found herself at the centre of an international scandal after she was jailed last week for 15 days after one of her seven-year-old pupils named a class teddy bear after the sacred prophet.
But Sudan's Islamist President Omar al-Beshir agreed to release her on Monday and grant her an official pardon after lobbying from two British Muslim members of the House of Lords who travelled to Khartoum.
Ms Gibbons was arrested November 25 and was sentenced last Thursday to 15 days in prison for insulting religion, a charge which carried a maximum six months in prison, 40 lashes and a fine.
Ms Gibbons said while she was glad to be back on home soil, she would miss colleagues and pupils from the Unity school.
"The support I have received there from them is legendary and I am going to miss my class and my colleagues enormously," she said.
"I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends and to having a good rest, and I am hoping you will give me space in order to do that.
"It has been an ordeal but I would like you to know I was well treated in prison and everybody was very kind to me."
Ms Gibbons was flown overnight from Sudan to London, where she was met by her son John and daughter Jessica at Heathrow Airport.
She now plans to spend Christmas with her "long suffering family" and then hunt for a new job, possibly overseas.
And she had plenty of praise for Sudan, despite her ordeal.
"I am very sorry to leave Sudan," she said.
"I had a fabulous time there. It's a really lovely place and I managed to see some of the beautiful countryside while I was there.
"The Sudanese people I found to be extremely kind and extremely generous and until this happened I only had a good experience.
"I wouldn't like it to put anybody off going to Sudan.
"In fact, I know of a lovely school that needs a new ... teacher."
Asked if she was terrified during her stint in prison, Ms Gibbon's replied: "I was. That's an understatement."
She added that she had spent time in two jails during the eight days she was locked up and was thrilled when the Sudanese Interior Ministry sent her a bed.
"(That) was possibly the best present I've ever had," she said.
One of Ms Gibbon's former colleagues in Britain, Gill Langworthy cried as she watched Ms Gibbons address the media live on TV.
"We are really thrilled and so relieved that she's coming home. We can't wait to see her," Ms Langworthy said.
"I look forward to seeing her in the next week or so."
- AAP
