[420 Girl]

A father-of-two from Somerset who was jailed in Dubai for carrying drugs has been granted a royal pardon and freed from prison, his family has said.

Rik Lynn from Westfield, near Radstock, was jailed for four years on Christmas Day after a small amount of cannabis was found in his rucksack.

Mr Lynn maintained throughout he had no idea the cannabis was there.

His mother said he had been pardoned by the state's leader, Sheik Mohammed, and was on a flight back to Britain.

Friends and family had been campaigning for his release and set up a Free Rik Lynn webpage, which received support from more than 2,000 people.

The man who started the campaign, Rick Jones, told BBC News: "It just developed naturally. I managed to get people on email in authority to see if that would help."

The ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed pardoned Mr Lynn last week after his lawyer put in a plea for clemency.

Mr Lynn's brother-in-law Shaun Salmon said: "It was very unexpected. We were told that you only get one chance of a letter of clemency and you've got to get it right."

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