HUMAN rights protestor James Mawdsley finally came home this week and headed straight for bed.

After 14 months in a tiny rat-infested cell, the 27-year-old seemed overjoyed to see his mother's terraced cottage.

He looked weary as he stepped from the train from King's Cross to be greeted by his mother Diana, 57, and sister Emma, 30, at Durham City railway station.

They climbed into a neighbour's car and headed back to Mrs Mawdsley's Brancepeth home.

James said: "It really feels wonderful to be home. There were days when I almost forgot what it looked like. I am going to do what I dreamt of doing so often when I was in my cell - going to my own bed."

James was released last Friday, four days after the Burmese military junta said it was deporting him. He spent more than 13 months in solitary confinement in Kentung Prison after being given a 17-year sentence for handing out pro-democracy literature on entering the countryj at a border crossing in August last year.

He was subjected to beatings, the most serious of which came three weeks ago when 15 soldiers attacked him.

Speaking at Bangkok Airport, awaiting the 12-hour flight to Heathrow, James said: "I'm out, but the injustice and suffering continue. I pray the international community extend the support they have given me to the Burmese people."

Referring to the support of his mother, he said: "I'm not at all ashamed to be 27-years-old and still rescued by my mum."

James said he learned to adapt to the hardships of his time in solitary confinement.

Having been deported three times by the Burmese authorities, he said he would not be going back - but said he would still campaign for democracy.

Mrs Mawdsley accompanied her son on the flights home from Burma, and he was greeted by his father, David, twin brother Jeremy, and his sister, Emma Mawdsley, a Durham University lecturer, at Heathrow Airport at about 5am on Saturday.

Back on home turf in Durham he added: "I have to get myself back together again. It has been hard mentally and I need a little time. Prison was very, very hard. Physically you learn to adapt. but the real struggle is the one that goes on mentally."

His mother, a nurse who gave up her career to campaign for his release, said: "We are just glad to have him here. It's wonderful.