A British tourist imprisoned for being gay in Morocco has said jail there was like a "concentration camp" as he returned to the UK. 

Ray Cole had an emotional reunion with his family at Gatwick Airport earlier this month following his release after 20 days behind bars.

The 69-year-old was sentenced to four months in prison with his Moroccan friend Jamal Jam Wald Nass after homosexual images were found on his password-protected phone.

The pair were languishing in a Marrakesh jail until Mr Cole was granted a conditional release on Tuesday after an appeal was lodged.

Mr Cole has spoken to The Guardian about his ordeal describing it as 'hell on earth': 

“We were taken downstairs and put in holding cells. They were hell on Earth,” he said. “The stench from the toilet will live with me for ever… I was put in a cell that would later hold 50 or 60 people,” Mr Cole said.

“The police sergeant came in and announced [to everyone] that I was a tourist who’d come to Marrakech to prey on young men.”

Moments after being reunited with relatives at the airport, the retired magazine publisher said he was "relieved" to be back home.

He told reporters: "I did not expect this at all - I thought I was going to be transferred to a different prison. They gave me a choice of staying in Morocco another night or getting the next flight back.

"You would not believe it, it's horrendous. It's not a prison, it's a concentration camp. People are in there from the age of 10 to 80 and 90s for nothing.

"I can hardly move my arm from sleeping on the floor."

He explained what conditions were like in jail as he arrived at Gatwick Airport:

When asked about the support from his family he said: "I'm so proud of them - I could not have a better family."