Hostage's mother: 'I want to hit him for going in the first place'

The mother of the British hostage freed by Iraqi rebels yesterday said she wanted to hug her son following his release and then hit him for going to Iraq in the first place.

Gary Teeley, 37, was released yesterday after being held for a week by Shia rebels near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. His 60-year-old mother Patricia Teeley, of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, said she had talked to him by phone as he recovered from his ordeal in an Italian military hospital.

Mrs Teeley said his first words to her were: "Hello Britain, this is Iraq calling". His first question in a call to his wife was how West Ham had fared in their game against Derby yesterday.

"I cannot explain how ecstatic I feel," Mrs Telley said. "We have been going through all sorts of emotions. A great load has been lifted. I have heard his voice and I am just glad that my son, my child, is safe and he is coming home."

She said that her son had not discussed how he came to be taken hostage and did not indicate how badly injured he was. "He was very, very tired, and I don't think he was saying very much because I am his mother and he knows it has been a very stressful six days, obviously," she said.

"My head is just full but my boy is safe and is coming home. When he comes home I will hit him for going out there in the first place but I also want to hug him and love him. He may be 37 but he is still my boy."

The family are now planning a birthday celebration when Mr Teeley returns home. He turned 37 while in captivity.

Sharon Tyrrell, of Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, his former wife and the mother of four of his five children, said: "No one likes to hear about things like that happening. The kids knew about it because it was everywhere and we had cameras outside."

Mr Teeley had been living in Qatar with his second wife and son for the past three years. He is understood to have been working as a laundry consultant on a military base near Nasiriyah.