'My hell of being trapped in paradise' Businessman returns to his family in North.

Byline: Rob Pattinson

ABUSINESS owner accused of murder on a Spanish holiday island has spoken for the first time about being allowed home.

Coach company boss Stephen Johnson has been "trapped in paradise" since police in Tenerife accused him of fatally stabbing a 25-year-old Moroccan in January 2008.

Authorities confiscated the 54-year-old's passport forcing him to live apart from his family, and missing the birth of his first grandchild.

Now Spanish courts have said the Durham-born father-of-three can return home for a fortnight this month to get his business affairs in order. Last night Mr Johnson told The Journal about the torment of living in a "gold cage" and his excitement at the prospect of walking through his own front door, in Hetton-le-Hole, Sunderland, for the first time in almost two years.

"It's going to be so emotional touching down in the UK," he said.

"I just can't wait to walk through my own front door, and sit on my own sofa and be with my family. My mum is 78, I haven't seen her in 18 months.

"I know everybody says it must be great walking around Tenerife in the sun, but it's terrible. I spend long lonely nights here. I've barely slept.

"They kept me in a cell for four days and when they released me I was a man charged with homicide. I felt distraught, suicidal. I couldn't get rid of the smell of dirt, I stayed in the shower for hours.

"I just walk during the day. I have a bite to eat and that's my life.

"I try to be on the phone to my family as often as I can, but it's so frustrating, so difficult, the whole thing is just a nightmare.

"I haven't been able to see my granddaughter Lily-Mae. I've missed so much of her growing up in that precious first year." Mr Johnson claims he was acting as a good samaritan when he tried to break up a fight in the resort of Playa de las Americas, in January last year.

The former Peterlee, Easington, and Durham City winger, was only spared jail because he owns a holiday home on the island police were able to bail him to.

While he has lived there son Gary, 24, and daughters Michelle, 27, and Lorraine, 26 have qualified for their Passenger Service Vehicle licences, so they can run the family business, Stepys coaches.

The Spanish courts have allowed Mr Johnson home for a fortnight between sign-on dates, so he can renew his own licence and business registration.

The coach company owner is banned from speaking about the murder case but a close family friend has revealed the Johnsons have already spent more than pounds 22,000 on legal fees and other bills.

Prosecutors have been unable to say when a trial will take place, but under Spanish law Mr Johnson can be kept on the island for up to four years.

NORTH OIL WORKER CLAIMS HE WAS PAWN IN THE DEAL TO SET LOCKERBIE BOMBER FREE AN oil worker was held in a Libyan jail cell with more than 50 inmates.

Simon Peacock was held without charge in a Tripoli prison after being quizzed over the murder of expat English teacher John Mountford.

The 41-year-old, of Lanchester, near Durham, had been working as a project manager in Libya and was questioned over the death because he was friendly with a number of foreign nationals.

After 26 days, his nightmare was ended without explanation, which has led him to believe he was used as a pawn in the deal to set Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi free. Mr Peacock, who has returned to County Durham, where he shares a pounds 250,000 home with his sister and niece, said: "I found myself locked up for no reason in a corrupt police state where virtually nobody spoke English.

"The humidity was stifling, your clothes ended up baked in sweat. It was a living nightmare. Yet I spoke to prisoners who were being held for years over trivial matters, a theft, a row in a shop, with no prospect of release." Mr Peacock, who is single, was arrested on July 25 while working for oil service company ETOS as a project manager.

He was asked about the death of Mr Mountford, 53, who was teaching English at a school for expat children and was found murdered in Tripoli after telling friends he was being blackmailed over claims he had sexually abused children.

Without warning, he was moved to a modern jail for his final days in custody. He later learned from British consular officials his case was being dealt with by the Libyan Foreign Minister and as fellow prisoners celebrated al-Megrahi's release, some coming up to shake Mr Peacock's hand, jail guards ushered him out of cell to be taken to the British embassy.

He said: "I have no doubt they tried to implicate me in the murder with a view to using me in the negotiations to free al-Megrahi. I just think they kept me inside so they could use me in the deal to bring him back."

A Foreign Office spokesman said his release played no part in the al Megrahi deal so far as Britain was concerned.

CAPTION(S):

WAITING Stephen Johnson's wife Joan at their home on Wearside. READY TO COME HOME Stephen Johnson, from Hetton-le-Hole, pictured with his mother, Nora, who he hasn't seen for a year and a half.