Karl Andree, the British pensioner who was to be publicly flogged in Saudi Arabia for alcohol possession, says he is looking forward to rebuilding his life after returning to the UK.

The 74-year-old flew back on Tuesday to be reunited with his family, who had launched a campaign for his release on compassionate grounds as his wife Verity is dying of Alzheimer’s and is in Britain receiving care.

“I am truly humbled and will never forget the love and support of so many people in getting me home,” he told ITV News.



In an interview with the Sun, he said his supporters had “saved my life” and added: “I am overwhelmed by the support and am grateful to prime minister David Cameron and the government for stepping in.”

News of his release was announced by the Foreign Office.

“Karl Andree was released from prison hours after my visit to Riyadh on 28 October,” Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, said in a statement on Wednesday. “I’m pleased that he has returned home to be reunited with his family, bringing to an end an extremely tough time for him and his family.”

Andree, 74, had been in jail since his arrest in Jeddah in August 2014 after bottles of home-brewed wine were reportedly found in his car. He was sentenced to 350 lashes.

Cameron intervened personally after the family went public with his case. Andree’s children had pressed the prime minister to do more to help their father, an oil executive who had suffered from cancer. After his release was announced last month, his family attributed Saudi Arabia’s decision to relent to intense media publicity in Britain.

In his statement, Hammond said the outcome was testimony to the strength of the UK’s relations with Riyadh.

“I’m grateful to the Saudi Arabian government for their efforts in ensuring this positive outcome, following our discussions during my visit. It’s through the strength and breadth of the relationship between our nations that we have been able to overcome a difficult issue like this.”

The Andree case came as relations between the UK and Saudi Arabia were going through a rocky patch after the UK cancelled a contract to provide training to its prisons. Michael Gove, the justice secretary, gave no reason for the decision, but there has been a campaign against the programme focusing on Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights.

Andree, who has seven grandchildren, worked as an oil executive in Saudi Arabia for 25 years and has had cancer three times. More than 230,000 people signed an online petition calling for the prime minister to intervene to stop Andree from receiving the lashings.

His family has said he would undergo immediate tests for cancer when he returned to the UK.



Simon Andree, his son, said: “First of all he needs to check to see what state his cancer is in – whether he’s still in remission or whether anything else has happened – so that will be one of the first things to happen.”

Three of his grandchildren, Lucy, 12, Celia, 10, and Edward, nine, also appealed to Cameron in a video message, in which they said their grandfather was a “really old man” and “no human deserves to be treated like this”.

Human rights groups have welcomed Andree’s release but have called on the UK to push Saudi Arabia harder on cases such as that of the blogger Raif Badawi, whose flogging for insulting Islam is due to resume soon, according to his wife, despite him reportedly nearly dying after receiving the first 50 lashes.