A 43-year-old Irish man has been released from a notorious prison in Thailand after serving eight years for murder, it was confirmed tonight.

COLIN MARTIN, the Irishman who has served over seven years in a Thai jail for a murder he claims not to have committed, wants to stay in the country if he is released, as expected, in the coming weeks.

FRIENDS of a man locked up in a Thai jail for a murder he says he did not commit are waiting anxiously for confirmation of reports he is about to be freed.