Freed student: I can't wait to be home

A London man has told how he can't wait to get home after spending three years fighting a manslaughter charge in Greece.

Andrew Symeou is due to fly back to Britain on Thursday after being cleared of killing 18-year-old Briton Jonathan Hiles in a nightclub on the island of Zante in July 2007.

Mr Symeou, 22, told the Standard: "I can't wait to get back. It has been a long road and I am happy that finally the truth has come out - but why did I have to go through all this?

"I spent almost a year in a Greek prison and for what? Absolutely nothing. The worst thing about being the youngest person in a foreign prison is the not knowing and the fear. I have witnessed things that I should never have had to."

Mr Symeou is due to start a psychology degree at Middlesex University in October, which he said would the first step in getting his life back on track following his ordeal.

He was found not guilty on Friday following claims by his friends they were forced by Greek police to sign statements implicating him.
He was arrested by Met Police detectives at his home in Enfield in June 2008. A year later, he was extradited to Greece under a European arrest warrant, spending 10 months in jail.

He was later released on bail but was forbidden to leave Greece until his trial.

Mr Symeou said his arrest and imprisonment had put huge strain on his family - parents Frank and Helen and sister Sophie, 25. "It has been absolutely traumatic for my family. My parents had to move out to Greece and my sister has been going back and forth to see me as well.

You never think something like this will happen to you."