Cleveleys man Kevin Cornwell tells BBC that the Taliban tried to radicalise him for 10 hours a day after he was accused of spying

Charity medic Kevin Cornwell, 54, had been imprisoned by the Taliban’s secret police since January 11 after he was arrested at his hotel in Kabul.

Now reunited with his wife, Kelly, he has spoken to the BBC about his ordeal – which included three months in a cell where inmates attempted to "radicalise" him 10 hours a day.

Mr Cornwell, from Cleveleys, had been working in Afghanistan since last year as a lead operations manager for Iqarus, a British-based health firm which assists United Nations missions.

He was arrested along with a number of other Britons including the man who was managing the guesthouse where he lived on the outskirts of the Afghan capital.

“The three months was quite difficult, I found that not the hardest thing I have ever done but it was extremely difficult trying to avoid the radicalisation inside that cell," he told the BBC.

“When they were asleep I used meditation just to sort of give my head the right space and maintain my mental fitness.

“I didn’t think I was coming out of there. At one point I thought I was going to be there and I wasn’t going home.”

Mr Cornwell, who served almost 25 years in the military, including 12 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps, has been deployed around the world.

On the day of his release, he said he could not be sure until "the last minute", as international prisoners would often be given false hope.

“They came in the cell at approximately five o'clock on the morning I was released. I knew it was five o'clock because call of prayer had just been," he said.

“They took us outside, tidied us up a little bit, told us to get a wash, handcuffed us, put a bag over our heads, put us into an armoured vehicle and took us to the airport with our bags which they had collected."

His wife Kelly, 48, made a number of media appearances appealing for his release – including Good Morning Britain – and told the Blackpool Gazette in April that she feared her husband might die in custody due to a deteriorating kidney condition.

Kelly said she had last seen her husband on November 7 last year and he was due back on February 12, expecting to have surgery for a kidney condition that month.

"I had to humanise Kevin," she said.

“I don’t think he would be home now if that pressure hadn’t been added and if I hadn’t have taken it to the Press in the first place," she added.

She spoke of her “horror and disbelief” as her husband of 22 years remained imprisoned inside a Taliban prison basement 5,000 miles away.

Mrs Cornwell described her anxious wait after finding out her husband was being freed.

When she was told he was out of Afghan airspace she "woke the whole household up" to tell them "he’s on his way home".

Mr Cornwell described the moment he was reunited with his wife.

“It was probably the best moment I have had in my life besides seeing my children being born," he said.

“I couldn’t speak for a couple of minutes, I didn’t have the words."

Mr Cornwell, whose health suffered, also developed kidney stones and will have an operation in December.

As he continues with his recovery, he hopes to return to work.

“I won’t be going back to Afghanistan," he added.

“I may go to a number of other countries to work, but at the moment that is still not decided.”

He paid tribute to his wife's "resilience" as he watched her graduate at Carlisle Cathedral on Wednesday.

Mrs Cornwell said she was accepting her award for all those "who have also experienced hard times".

“The past nine months have taught us both that all there is are memories now, we are going to create memories,” she added.

Read the full interview with the BBC at this link.