**Freed British hostage Peter Moore will return to the UK on New Year’s Day, the BBC has learned.**Middle East correspondent Jim Muir told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he was informed of Mr Moore’s movements by the British embassy in Baghdad.
The Foreign Office in London said it was “unable to confirm” his return.
Mr Moore was taken hostage in Baghdad in May 2007 along with four bodyguards. Three of them were later killed, the fourth is also thought to be dead.
Our correspondent said that officials were "clamping down on any details. We are not being told how he is getting back or when he is getting back.
“He and his family basically want to have a period of decompression where he can ease gently back into public life.”
Mr Moore spent New Year’s Eve at the embassy in Baghdad “quietly,” our correspondent added.
“I don’t think there was any great revelry or celebration going on. It was a very quiet low-key evening for them, but he will be moving on [Friday].”