This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

A German diplomat’s son who served more than 33 years in prison for a double murder in Virginia that he has steadfastly maintained he did not commit has arrived in Germany after being released on parole.

Jens Söring was met by supporters and reporters after he landed in Frankfurt on Tuesday after his deportation. He said: “I would never have managed it without these people who supported me for years.”

“I”m so happy. This is really the best day of my life.”

Söring, 53, was convicted of murdering his then-girlfriend Elizabeth Haysom’s parents, Derek and Nancy Haysom, in 1985 and was serving a life sentence in Virginia when he was granted parole last month. Haysom, who was serving a 90-year sentence as an accessory, was granted parole at the same time.

Documentary casts doubt on guilty verdict in 1990 Virginia murder trial Read more

Söring maintains that Haysom carried out the killings herself and only told him afterwards. Haysom, a Canadian citizen, is also to be deported.

Söring initially confessed to the murders, but later said he had only done so because he thought his father’s status as a diplomat would provide him immunity in the US, and that he would serve a short juvenile sentence in Germany while sparing Haysom the possibility of the death penalty.

Söring and Haysom met at the University of Virginia, where they were students.

Over the years, Söring garnered many supporters advocating for his release, including law enforcement officials who had re-examined the evidence using new forensic techniques, as well as the crime author John Grisham and the actor Martin Sheen.

Peter Beyer, a member of the German chancellor Angela Merkel’s party and the government’s coordinator for transatlantic relations, was among those who met Söring at the airport.

Söring’s mother died while he was in prison and he has said he is now estranged from his father.

He did not say where he planned to live in Germany and took no questions at the airport. He asked reporters to respect his privacy for the next few weeks while he tried to settle back into society.