Two British missionaries jailed in Gambia have sent their two-year-old adopted daughter back to the UK, a family friend said today.

David and Fiona Fulton were arrested in the West African nation in November after sending round robin emails that allegedly criticised its government.

The couple were sentenced to one year in prison with hard labour and fined £6,250 each on December 30 after pleading guilty to sedition charges.

A letter apparently written by the Fultons in which they pleaded for clemency and asked to be allowed to return to Britain was broadcast on Gambian state television at the weekend.

According to a Gambian newspaper, it read: "It was not our intention to excite (sic) hatred, dissatisfaction and contempt to the president or government of the Gambia.

"We humbly apologise totally and unreservedly and without exception for anything and everything we have said that have (sic) caused offence and we fully and publicly withdraw such remarks.

"We apologise to the security forces for the trouble we have caused them. We humbly ask His Excellency the president to forgive us on (sic) what we have done."

The minister of a church with ties to the Fultons said he understood the letter was genuine.

Pastor Martin Speed, of Westhoughton Pentecostal Church near Bolton, Greater Manchester, also confirmed that the Fultons' adopted daughter Elizabeth returned to Britain after they were sentenced and is now being looked after by family.

Mr Fulton, 60, a former British Army major originally from Troon, Scotland, and Mrs Fulton, 46, originally from Torquay, Devon, had been in Gambia since 1996.

Mr Fulton worked as a chaplain in the Gambian army and his wife looked after terminally ill people and visited women in their homes and in hospital.

The pair were arrested on November 29 at their home in Kerr Sering, an hour's drive from the capital Banjul in the African bush.

Gambia is a former British colony and has been ruled by the same regime after Yahya Jammeh claimed the presidency following a military coup in 1994.

The president's record on human rights and civil freedoms has been questioned after a crackdown on government critics.