Alan Johnston free after 114 days

Alan Johnston is a free man today after being held for 114 days in Gaza.

The BBC's Gaza correspondent was abducted on March 12 by a group calling itself the "Army of Islam". Two videos featuring Johnston - including one where he was seen to be wearing an explosives belt - were released over the four-month ordeal.

In the early hours of this morning, Johnston was handed over to Hamas, which currently controls Gaza. At 3am BST was interviewed on BBC News 24.

"I was released a couple of hours ago and it's just the most fantastic thing to be free," he told the channel. "It was an appalling experience as you can imagine, 16 weeks kidnapped, sometimes occasionally quite terrifying and frightening… I didn't know where it was going to end. It became almost hard to imagine normal life again and I literally dreamed many many times of being free and I always woke up back in that room.

"Now it really is over and it's indescribably good to be out, and I'm hugely grateful to all the people, an amazing number of people who have worked on the Palestinian side, the British Government, the BBC from top to bottom and the huge amount of support from BBC listeners and viewers.

"I had a radio almost throughout and was able to follow all the extraordinary level of support and interest in my case and that was a huge psychological boost and I am immensely grateful."

Johnston is now at the British consulate in Jerusalem.