Shaker Aamer released: After 13 years in Guantanamo, final British detainee lands at Biggin Hill

Mr Aamer was never convicted of any crimes

The last British resident detained in Guantanamo landed in the UK on Friday after spending 13 years imprisoned in Cuba.

Shaker Aamer, 48, landed at Biggin Hill airport at around 2pm in a private Gulfstream IV jet.

Security at the airport, located in south east London, was tight with journalists and even Mr Aamer’s lawyer Clive Stafford Smith denied entry.

"He needs, first, to be in a hospital, and then to be with his family," Clive Stafford Smith, told an Associated Press reporter.

Mr Aamer will be taken for a health check-up before returning to his home in Battersea, south London.

During his time in Guantanamo, an independent doctor who examined him warned his health had rapidly deteriorated in the past eight years.

Dr Emily Keram, a US doctor who visited him during his imprisonment, diagnosed Mr Aamer with acute post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), migraines, digestive problems, swelling, asthma and tinnitus. She recommended urgent treatment.

Mr Aamer was cleared for release from the notorious US detention centre in Cuba in 2007, but it would be a further eight years before American officials allowed his transfer.

A Saudi citizen, Mr Aamer has four children with his British wife and has been granted permanent British residency. He has never met his youngest son, born after he was captured in Afghanistan in 2002 and then imprisoned by the US government.