Smash hit

"She has shown very good British grit in very difficult circumstances, but I know that the most important thing for her is to get home as soon as possible and to return to her family."

Mr Miliband thanked the two British Muslim peers whose meetings were “an important contribution to this case, and has shown that UK opinion spans all religions in wanting a common sense solution to this case”.

He added that he had spoken to Ms Gibbons, who was delighted to be returning home. "I am very pleased to report that she is in remarkably good spirits. She said to me that she was a little overwhelmed by the amount of coverage that there has been, but she was elated to be on her way back home," he said.

"She has shown very good British grit in very difficult circumstances, but I know that the most important thing for her is to get home as soon as possible and to return to her family."

Baroness Warsi also revealed that hardliners had been pushing for Mrs Gibbons to face a retrial and probable tougher sentence. "Initially the meetings were hopeful but we felt very quickly the mood changed and a more hard-lined mood developing," she said. "People were calling for a retrial which was a very real possibility."

Gordon Brown welcomed the news, saying he was delighted and relieved that Mrs Gibbon's difficult ordeal was over. The Prime Minister said in a statement: "Commonsense has prevailed.

"Through the course of Ms Gibbons’s detention I was glad to see Muslim groups across the UK express strong support for her case. I applaud the particular efforts of Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi in securing her freedom. I am also grateful to our officials for all their work behind the scenes."

Mrs Gibbons, of Aigburth, Liverpool, was sentenced to 15 days in jail and to be deported for allowing her class of seven-year-olds to call a class teddy bear Mohamed.

Her son John, 25, said of her release: "Obviously we’re very pleased. We’ve just got to contain our excitement until she’s on the plane. The family won’t be 100 per cent happy until she’s on the plane.

"It’s been a strange old week, very stressful and particularly bad for the family but now she’s coming home, fingers crossed. If this week has taught me anything it is that anything can happen."

News of the pardon emerged as the two peers met Mr al-Bashir in the presidential palace this morning and was confirmed shortly after in an impromptu press conference on the steps of the palace.

A presidential aide spoke in Arabic, and Lord Ahmed thanked the Sudanese authorities in English. Then Lady Warsi read a statement from Mrs Gibbons, in which she apologised for causing anyone distress and stressed her respect for Islam.

"I am sorry to be leaving Sudan," Ms Gibbons said, thanking the authorities for ensuring that she was well-treated.

There are few direct flights between Britain and Sudan, but it is expected that Ms Gibbons could be on a flight to the UK within a few hours once her travel documents have been updated and an exit visa issued. Both the British and Sudanese authorities are said to be keen for her to leave as quickly as possible.

The British teacher had been serving her sentence at a secret government villa in the Sudanese capital.

Former teaching colleagues in Liverpool said that they were thrilled by her release. Rick Widdowson, headteacher of Garston Primary School, where she spent 12 years, said:

"Everyone is very relieved and very pleased. We feel it should never have come to this but it’s a good ending. One or two of the staff see Gill socially and I am sure they will be meeting up to celebrate with her."

Mrs Gibbons was arrested last Sunday after a secretary at Unity High School complained that she had named a teddy bear after Muhammad, Islam’s holiest prophet.

Her lawyer maintains that the bear was named Mohamed after a popular seven-year-old pupil, after a class vote.

Teachers said that parents had known about the name since September without anyone taking offence. They insist that it was an innocent mistake being exploited as part of a dispute between the secretary and the school’s director.

Ms Gibbons was convicted of insulting Islam at the end of an eight-hour hearing on Thursday and sentenced to 15 days in detention. She had faced 40 lashes or up to a year in prison.

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