Pilot freed after African jail ordeal

David Simpson was arrested almost five months ago in the Central African Republic after he stumbled upon a gruesome scene in the bush involving 13 bodies and informed local officials.

The 24-year-old was held in Ngaragba Central Prison in the capital, Bangui, before being put under temporary house arrest after the jail was stormed by rioters and destroyed earlier this month.

Mr Simpson, who worked as a manager and pilot for a Swedish safari company Central African Wildlife Adventures, is now waiting for official permission to fly back to the family home in North Yorkshire after charges were dropped against him.

Despite his ordeal he hopes to return to Africa.

“I feel I belong in the African bush,” he said.

“I love my job and I want to come back here and get on with it.

“But for now, I’m looking forward to some summer evenings in England with my friends.”

Mr Simpson was released on medical grounds last week after a malaria attack before being officially told he was a free man by the presiding judge in the case.

He is now waiting for the authorities to return his passport and for official paperwork to be completed before he can return home.

The pilot, whose family runs a pheasant farm in Gillamoor, near Pickering, in the North York Moors, found the bodies in March as he was going through dense forest in Bakouma, an area in the south-east of the country.

They were tied together and mutilated.

He said he was astonished when the authorities thought he might have been involved and arrested him.

If convicted, he could have faced the death penalty but there were also concerns the case could drag on for years in the country which is highly unstable and riven by corruption.

Many commentators have linked the killings to supporters of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But despite the killings bearing the horrific hallmarks of the warlord’s men, Mr Simpson continued to be held in dreadful conditions.

A UN report earlier this year claimed Kony had kidnapped nearly 600 children in the past three years, forcing boys to fight and turning girls into sex slaves.

Last night a Foreign Office spokesman confirmed Mr Simpson had now left the prison where he had been held and was staying on the compound belonging to his employers.

But he said that all the matters in the case had not been resolved and Mr Simpson was not yet free to travel out of the country.

“We are in touch with Mr Simpson, his family and the authorities in the Central African Republic,” he said.

“Our understanding is that the case had not been concluded.

“We hope that will change and it will be resolved and that he will be able to travel and return to his family as soon as possible.”

During his time being held as a prisoner, Mr Simpson has spoken of his terrible ordeal.

A riot outside the prison triggered an uprising inside before rioters broke in armed with machetes, knives and sticks and started looting.

He tried to flee the mob but was stopped at the gate by prison officers.

He was briefly allowed to stay under house arrest before being returned to the rat-infested prison.

His family have led a campaign for his release and have called several times for the Government to do more to secure his freedom. Officials have said consular staff have been visiting him regularly.

His brother Paul visited him in prison and spoke to him frequently on the telephone as the family stepped up efforts for his earliest release.

Mr Simpson grew up on the family farm and was working as the manager of a factory in Sheffield when he gained his pilot’s licence and applied for the job in the African country.