MICHAEL Shields has returned to his Liverpool home for the first time in three and a half years under new relaxed prison terms.

The 22-year-old was allowed to spend three days back with his family in Edge Hill, on temporary licence release from jail in Warrington.

Today his father Michael Snr described the emotional moment his son finally walked through the front door again since he left to watch Liverpool play in the Champion’s League final in 2005.

And he told how the engineering student spent his first night back in his old bedroom after a poignant family meal.

But he insisted their ordeal is far from over, emphasising the agony of having to drive his son back to prison after the visit.

The 46-year-old window cleaner said: “It was incredibly emotional for us all but particularly his mum. She was waiting at the front door and saw him coming round the corner of our street in the car.

“She opened the door and put her arms around him as he walked in. Maria has been waiting for that moment a long time. We all have.

“He ran upstairs to his room and said he’d been dreaming of doing that for years. He was in control of his emotions and stood up like a man but everyone else was in tears.

“Maria did him an English breakfast when he came downstairs and he kept saying everything was really small in the house. I told him it was just because he hadn’t been back for so long.

“He went on the laptop in the living room and was watching the Liverpool FC channel on TV. Then some of his friends came over and it was lovely to see him smiling and laughing with them. That first night he said he had a good sleep in his own bed.

“I was up early the next morning and went into his room to check on him and see if he was OK. It just felt normal for us all for the first time in ages. Then we had to take him back on the Friday afternoon and it was heart-breaking.