Negotiations are continuing to release the body of the fifth British hostage seized in Iraq as the UK Foreign Office scotched claims he may still be alive.

British hostage Peter Moore today said he was “delighted” to have been freed from captivity in Iraq and was looking forward to “getting to know” his family again.

Secret talks between American negotiators and Peter Moore’s captors were being held without the British Government’s knowledge, the father of the freed British hostage claimed today.

Preparations were today under way for the return to the UK of former hostage Peter Moore after his release yesterday from two and a half years of captivity in Iraq.

A BRITISH computer expert kidnapped in Iraq with four bodyguards in 2007 has been released, Britain said yesterday, adding that he was in “remarkable” spirits.