Convicted gun-runner Peter Bleach who returned to the United Kingdom on Friday after spending eight years in an Indian jail said he was innocent and vowed to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court in New Delhi to clear his name.

On arrival at London's Heathrow Airport he told rediff.com: "I'm not guilty and in the end I will prove this. If I don't succeed in the high court, I will go to the Supreme Court."

Bleach, aged 52, was met at the airport by his former girlfriend, Jo Fletcher, and hordes of journalists as he flew in on a British Airways flight from Kolkata.

Airport authorities imposed unprecedented security restrictions, asking every journalist to register their name, passport, address and telephone number before they were allowed to stand at the exit point to meet Bleach.

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Bleach has always maintained he was set up by British security agents after he was approached by a Dutch businessmen to supply a quote for supplying some assault rifles.

He says he was encouraged to play along with what he later realised was a terrorist group until it was too late to avoid getting off the transport plane where he was held at gunpoint as crates of assault rifles, anti-tank missiles, rocket launchers and ammunition were parachuted into Purulia in West Bengal.

Judging by the way he was treated by British diplomats in Kolkata, who treated him to tea, beer and champagne before leaving, and the VIP style security  arrangements in London, someone, somewhere clearly believes his story.

Boosted by the champagne and the 'low calorie' British Airways meal, Bleach said he was feeling 'absolutely marvellous' and looking forward to seeing his 83-year-old mother, Oceana, who lives in Brompton-by-Sawdon, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Explaining how his arrest resulted from a misunderstanding, Bleach told journalists in London, "It came about by the fact that I was a legitimate dealer in defence equipment when somebody approached me for an illegitimate deal. I notified the British authorities and the British authorities asked me to run with them."

"Somehow, the Indian government didn't intercept the consignment," he said.

Former partner Ms Fletcher explained Bleach had been attempting to sell helicopters to the Red Cross in nearby Bangladesh when he was arrested.

His five co-defendants from Latvia were all released three and a half years ago, following appeals from the Russian government.

But Bleach stayed in prison despite pleas from British politicians, including Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. India decided to respond sympathetically last week during British Home Secretary David Blunkett's visit to New Delhi.

Thanking the British government for its support, Bleach said, It has been a very, very hard eight years.  I am feeling absolutely marvellous. I can't possibly overstate how good it feels to be free at last."

"As somebody commented in the press this morning in India, it reads like the Oscar ceremony but I must thank the President of India (A P J Abdul Kalam) for making this possible, particularly Jack Straw, Tony Blair and David Blunkett and of course Sir Teddy Taylor (his local MP) who has been the prime motivator, and Jo."