The family of a West banker jailed in the US for his part in a fraud connected to the Enron scandal are said to be 'relieved' that he has been returned to Britain to serve out his sentence here.

Giles Darby, 46, could be released from prison by the end of this year, under parole rules that might almost halve his 37-month sentence handed out by a Texan court.

The father-of-five had been living with his wife Deborah and their daughters at a large detached house in the village of Lower Wraxall, near Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire.

But the family was forced to sell the home to help fund a lengthy legal battle, first to stop extradition to the US to face charges over the fraud, and then to fight the case itself which at one stage looked like it could end with Darby sentenced to decades behind bars.

The former banker was one of the so-called NatWest Three, a trio of money-men who stood accused of pocketing seven-figure sums from a dodgy deal involving the sale of an internet company to Andrew Fastow, one of the main fraudsters behind the Enron scandal.

The trio had argued they committed any alleged crimes in England, and the victim was British – their employers at NatWest – so shouldn't be extradited to the US to face charges there.

The case prompted a huge controversy, with an emergency debate in Parliament, because the three were being extradited using a deal struck between US and UK authorities to help with the extradition of suspected terrorists, not white-collar criminals.

The three have now benefited from another US-UK agreement – to repatriate criminals jailed in the other's country. They arrived back in Britain before Christmas, and although the Prisons Service would not comment on the situation of any prisoner, it is understood they have been transferred to open or low-risk category prisons.

A spokesman for Mr Darby's wife Deborah said yesterday she did not want to comment on her husband's ongoing prison sentence, adding: "Obviously all the families are relieved that the three are back in this country – for a start it makes visiting them much easier."

The trio all ended up pleading guilty to one charge of wire fraud in a plea bargain deal with prosecutors in Houston last March.

According to court documents, the three received around £3.5 million between them within weeks of the dodgy NatWest deal back in 2000.

As part of the plea bargain, all three apologised to the court and to the victims of the offence – NatWest, who were talked into selling a company for a price far below its market value.

The judge in Houston also ordered the three to pay back the £3.5 million to Royal Bank of Scotland, the owners of NatWest. In court last February, one of the NatWest Three, Gary Mulgrew, who is the son of a member of the Scottish Parliament, apologised for their actions. He said they 'lacked integrity' and apologised to those who had been 'hurt' by his actions.