Police to interview Judith Tebbutt on her return to Britain

Officers will only approach Mrs Tebbutt after she has had time to reacclimatise to life in Britain

Scotland Yard detectives are expected to interview freed British hostage Judith Tebbutt to garner further evidence about her husband's murder once she returns home.

Officers, who will only approach Mrs Tebbutt after she has had time to reacclimatise to life in Britain after more than six months of captivity in Somalia, will want know more about the identity of her kidnappers to assist the ongoing investigation by Kenyan police into publishing executive David Tebbutt’s death last September.

Mrs Tebbutt, 56, is due to fly home to London from Kenya tonight with her son, Oliver, who headed efforts by her family to raise the ransom claimed to be as much as £800,000 which secured her release on Wednesday morning.

The social worker, who is experienced in working with psychiatric patients, is expected to eventually return to the home she shared with her husband in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire.

Mr Tebbutt, who worked for Faber & Faber, was killed by a single gunshot to the chest as he tried to shield his wife when a kidnap gang arrived at their beachside hut in a remote luxury resort in Kiwayu on the north Kenyan coast.

The couple are thought to have been taken by a Somali bandit operating in the Kenyan border area who then sold on Mrs Tebbutt to piracy gangs specialising in negotiating the release of abducted tourists and sailors.

The lawless expanse of southern Somalia means bringing the killers of Mr Tebbutt to justice will be extremely difficult but Kenyan police yesterday insisted their murder hunt was continuing.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Eric Kiraithe, told ITN News: "Naturally, in a criminal investigation, the victim is always key. As a witness [Mrs Tebbutt] is of much value to us. The hardest part is yet to come, when she walks into her house back in England where her husband used to be. She will want justice and it is our resolve to achieve that."