A STRATTON man held for years in a hell-hole Filipino jail is finally back in the UK.

Kevin Taylor touched down at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday night, where he was greeted by his parents and supporters.

The 54-year-old has been in-and-out of prisons and detention facilities in the Philippines for a decade.

Together with his Filipino wife Charlene, 39, the former recruitment firm boss was convicted of defrauding jobseekers in the Asian nation with promises of employment in the UK.

He was initially arrested on the fraud charges in May 2009 and held for more than five years without trial. In 2014, Kevin and Charlene were convicted and each sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. Recent changes to the law have meant an early release for the pair.

Charlene was released in September 2018. Kevin was moved to a crowded deportation facility.

Welcoming her husband’s repatriation, Charlene, with whom Kevin has three children, said: “I’m so excited for him.”

North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson said: “I’m absolutely thrilled both for Mr Taylor and his parents, who have suffered untold distress over the last 12 years both through prolonged uncertainty, false dawns and the financial impact of supporting their son.

“I’m very grateful for the senior ministers taking the time to raise this very complex case and help us secure this very welcome news.”

In a 2013 letter to the Adver when he was being held at the San Mateo jail, near Manilla, Kevin said he was sharing a cell with 21 other prisoners. The men all shared a single toilet.

Kevin wrote: “My own health is a battle against severe depression and skin diseases. As the humidity in the cell is high I suffer from boils and skin rashes, which are very painful and to keep these to a minimum I have to buy sulphur soap or medicated soap which become very expensive as I have to take three showers a day due to the heat.”

After his release from prison, Kevin was taken to the Bictuan detention centre, Manilla, where conditions were described as hellish.

Former inmate Frank Bohlert, from Aberdeen, was held there for 10 months before his release in June 2018. He told the Adver: “It’s worse than a normal jail. There is no automatic bed allocation and having to sleep on a filthy concrete floor without mattress and with rats all around you is normal.”

Blogger C J Nash runs a blog collects the stories of those who have found themselves stuck in the Manilla detention centre. He said some had been held at the centre for up to eight years.

“Conditions are horrific, the food is unidentifiable slop. Overcrowded conditions, people sleeping on the floor with rats running over them,” he said.