An IT tutor from Craven College in Skipton is rejoicing after his son was released from a three-month hostage ordeal in Colombia's Sierra Nevada.

Christopher Henderson and his wife, Sherelle, received the call they had been waiting for on Monday from their son, Mark.

Mr Henderson has been a part time tutor at Craven College for seven years and was thrilled when he heard his son had been freed.

Mark, 32, was captured with seven other tourists by left wing Columbian rebels 101 days ago.

He and the four Israelis who had remained captive were flown to Valledupa airport on Monday and Mark was finally able to call home.

Mrs Henderson said: "It was just absolutely magical to hear his voice when he called. Don't ask me how but deep down I just knew he'd come back. We just had to stay positive or we wouldn't have got through it.

"We will be going to Heathrow to meet Mark and there will be family and friends waiting for him here.

"It's the best Christmas we could have hoped for and it will be wonderful to be together again.

"Mark's brother lives in New Zealand so he won't be here but we are all so relieved. It's just wonderful. And of course it's helped to know people who we know have been thinking about us and been so supportive."

Mark spent Monday night in the British ambassador's residence in Bogota and was due to undergo full medical tests before flying home, the Foreign Office said.

After speaking to his mother at the family home in Pateley Bridge, near Harrogate, Mark was passed to his 59-year-old father who said: "Hi." "Hi?" joked Mark. "Three months in the jungle and you say, Hi. Is that it?"

He asked his father: "Everything OK with you?" and said he felt "absolutely fine".

The television producer's phone call home came 45 minutes after it was confirmed he had been released by the ELN rebels at a secret jungle site.

Derek Sheppard, who retired last week from the IT department at Craven College, said: "Chris has worked at the college for a number of years so a lot of people here have been thinking about him throughout this.

"It has obviously been a hard time for him and his family and I am sure everyone at the college will be relieved it's all over."

Mr Henderson told the BBC's breakfast programme yesterday (Tuesday): "We always believed he would be back. He had such great support from friends and the local community. All that gave us the strength to believe he would be back."

The tourists had been taken captive on September 12 near the ancient ruins of Ciudad Perdida, the Lost City.

The rebels, who were demanding an investigation into human rights abuses against peasants by right-wing guerillas in the Sierra Nevada, had retracted an earlier promise to release the hostages for Christmas.

Their release follows the intervention of Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, and the publication of a UN report into the peasants' plight.