Paul and Rachel Chandler are being debriefed at the British High Commission in Nairobi and are expected to return the UK in the next few days.

The Tunbridge Wells couple’s 388 days in captivity ended yesterday when their Somalian captors released them after a ransom was paid.

Speaking about their release, Mr Chandler said: ‘It was hard to have any feelings really – almost disbelief. It was too good to be true.’

He added that they were ‘rather skinny and bony but we’re fine’, although they had just learnt of the death of his father in late July and needed to come to terms with that.

The couple’s Rival 38, Lynn Rival, is being held in Portland, where it was shipped after being retrieved by the Navy.

Mr Chandler said: ‘I think the worst time was when we had to abandon our home and boat in the ocean.’

The ransom amount is being reported as anything between £500,000 and £1million.

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