Mr Stonehouse was led out of jail an hour before other prisoners due for release on Tuesday morning.

He was allowed to leave earlier on health grounds as he is still recovering from open heart surgery and has had three heart attacks during his time in prison.

Mr Stonehouse was released on bail after serving three years of a seven-year term for theft, fraud and deception.

The charges related to a string of failed fraudulent businesses set up by the ex-Walsall MP before his disappearance in 1974.

He stood trial in 1976 after being arrested in Australia.

No family reunion

Last year his first application for parole was turned down.

Several suitcases and boxes containing Mr Stonehouse's personal possessions and documents were loaded into a car which arrived to collect him at dawn.

But there was no family reunion outside the prison gates.

Both his mother and his former secretary, Sheila Buckley, who was with him when he was arrested in Australia, stayed away.

Mr Stonehouse sprinted towards the waiting car with his head covered by a jacket and hid from photographers by laying down on the back seat.

It is believed Mr Stonehouse plans to write a book about his experiences.

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