Webster captained Dundee United to the Scottish Cup last season
Hearts have signed defender Andy Webster on a two-and-a-half-year deal.
Webster was released from his contract at Rangers on Monday, six months before his three-year contract was due to end.
The player spent five years at Hearts from 2001, but was forced to pay the club £150,000 for breach of contract when he moved to Wigan.
"I'm delighted and very grateful to the manager and owners for the chance to return to a club that means a lot to me," Webster told the Hearts website.
The 28-year-old had also been made a contract offer by Hearts' Edinburgh rivals Hibernian, and English clubs were also interested in the player.
Webster made his name at Hearts but left the club in controversial circumstances when he invoked a little-known transfer clause to join Wigan - a "foreign" club for the purposes of the transfer regulations - in the third year of a four-year contract.
Hearts wanted £4.5m from the English club but the Court of Arbitration for Sport eventually ruled that Webster and Wigan were liable for only £150,000.
The player, though, is adamant that there is no bad feeling between himself and the Tynecastle outfit.
"I come back to the club that gave me the base for a successful club and international career as a more experienced player.
"A lot was written at the time I left and the circumstances were indeed unfortunate.
Webster played nearly 200 times in his first spell at Hearts
"But the fact I have returned to a club which means so much to me - particularly when there were opportunities at other clubs - says everything I need to say on my return.
"Now my entire focus is on the future and helping Hearts secure European football."
Webster became a free agent after being released from his Rangers contract on the last day of the January transfer window.
He initially joined Rangers on loan in 2007 and made the move permanent the following year.
But injuries and the form of other defenders limited his involvement with the Ibrox side to a total of just three first team appearances.
He spent last season at Dundee United, where he captained the club to only their second ever Scottish Cup success, and was voted as their player of the year.
But soon after his return to Rangers, Webster was struck down by a hamstring injury - which also forced him to pull out of the Scotland squad for the Euro 2012 qualifier in Lithuania in September 2010.
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