The 12 British plane spotters freed from a month-long ordeal in a Greek prison after being accused of spying touched down in Britain this morning, finally bringing to an end the diplomatically charged saga.
Amid emotional scenes at London's Luton airport, 10 of the men and one woman were reunited with their families.
The twelfth member of the group flew into Heathrow Airport about an hour later, Sky Televisionreported.
"I was amazed at the amount of cameras and people welcoming us...it was an unbelievable welcome home," freed plane spotter Mr Stephen Rush told Sky.
"All the way along it remained a possibility that we may not be home for Christmas, so to be back now...we can finally get preparations under way and have a proper Christmas," he said.
The group, which also included two Dutch citizens, was arrested on November 8th in southern Greece and accused of spying after allegedly taking photographs at a military airbase.
Photographing military compounds is strictly prohibited in Greece, which shares a border with former Iron Curtain countries as well as with long-time foe Turkey, with which it nearly went to war as recently as 1996.
All denied the charges and said they had received an official invitation to attend an air display near the southern Greek town of Kalamata.
"We had full permission to do what we did, we had full permission to be at the place we were arrested at," Mr Rush said. He added that the group intended to return to Greece next year to fight the charges against them.
They spent 37 days behind bars before Greek judges reduced the charges of spying to the misdemeanour of obtaining national secrets and set bail of 5 million drachmas (£11,500) each.
The arrest soured relations between NATO allies Britain and Greece and became a cause celebre in Britain, with national newspapers campaigning for the group to be returned in time for Christmas.