Freed Briton takes a break on way home from Burma

THE BRITISH woman who was sentenced to seven years of hard labour in Burma for singing protest songs was on her way home last night after delaying her return to spend some time with her parents.

Rachel Goldwyn, 28, and her parents Ed and Charmain left Burma on Saturday morning but decided to take a break before coming back to Britain.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said that Rachel, who was released from Burma'sInsein prison a week ago after serving eight weeks of her sentence, was "still en route" to Britain yesterday. Although he would not say exactly when Ms Goldwyn would arrive at Heathrow, the spokesman confirmed that the family had taken a flight to Singapore.

Ms Goldwyn, an economics graduate from south London, was arrested on 7 September after chaining herself to a lamppost and singing pro-democracy songs in a busy Rangoon street. She was freed by the Burmese government after international condemnation and two months of lobbying from her parents.

In a bizarre display of friendliness the Goldwyns were last week taken on a tour of the country's northern Shan state as a guest of the military regime. It is not certain whether the trip was part of Ms Goldwyn's release conditions.