British man Jamie Harron sentenced to jail for touching man's hip in Dubai arrives back in UK

The 27-year-old was arrested for 'public indecency' and originally sentenced to three years in jail

Jamie Harron is greeted by his mother Patricia after arriving home at Glasgow Airport (PA)

A British man sentenced to three months in prison for touching a man's hip in Dubai has arrived back in the UK.

Jamie Harron described the United Arab Emirates as a "shambles" after touching down at Glasgow Airport on Tuesday evening.

The 27-year-old electrician was arrested on "public indecency" grounds in July but was pardoned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum after an international outcry.

A public indecency charge was made after Mr Harron is said to have been holding a drink moving through a crowded bar and held a hand in front of him to avoid spilling it on himself or others. He then “touched a man on his hip to avoid impact”.

He was initially jailed for five days and then released on bail with his passport confiscated.

Although the UAE is a draw for Western tourists. it has strict and oppressive rules on public indecency and homosexuality and has a government which stands accused of serious human rights violations.

The UK Foreign Office urges tourists to "respect local traditions, customs, laws and religions at all times".

After his arrest, Mr Harron lost his job and was told he faced up to three years in jail.

Before his hearing on Sunday, he had already been sentenced in absentia to 30 days in prison for failing to appear in court for making a rude gesture and drinking alcohol during the same July incident.

Campaign group Detained in Dubai (DiD) had said both decisions would be appealed against, but Mr Harron was then called by police in Dubai on Monday morning telling him the cases against him had been dismissed and he could collect his passport.

Mr Harron, from Stirling, Scotland, told reporters he would not be returning to the country anytime soon when he arrived in Glasgow on Tuesday.

He said he would travel through the country again if was going back to work but would not be doing so "in a hurry" and did not think he would get his job back.

Mr Harron said he did not think he would be released. "I did not see any light at the end of the tunnel to be honest," he told reporters waiting at the airport.

But he added that he had remained positive "all the way through" because he "could not quite believe it was happening".

He said he had spent almost all of the £30,000 he saved while working in Afghanistan during the previous six months trying to get out of Dubai but he had decided he "just wanted to move on".

Additional reporting by PA