A British teacher locked up in a Chinese prison for overstaying his visa has described his "horrific" stint for the first time.
Daniel Thompson, 48, had been working in Jinan since October 2019, teaching English to locals.
But police found his visa had expired last month so he was locked up for a week at a mountain prison.
Mr Thompson says he was locked up along with 14 other Chinese people who had committed low-level crimes such as gambling.
He said it was extremely cramped conditions and a toilet that was little more than a hole in the ground was very tough.
Mr Thompson, who says he has never previously been in trouble with the law, is now back home in Bournemouth and sharing what he went through.
The Brit said: "None of it seemed real until I was actually being driven to the prison with a load of other Chinese convicts. It was the most horrific week of my life, and when I think back about my experience, it terrifies me."
Mr Thompson says he has taught all over the globe during his 17-year career but doesn't have an official degree, meaning he couldn't qualify for a Chinese work visa.
Instead, he travelled using a business visa and then worked using a humanitarian visa, which he renewed monthly.
But after he broke his leg in an e-bike accident he was unable to renew his visa, he claims, and he'd run out of pages on his passport to stamp.
He then needed to apply for a new passport from the passport office in Beijing before he was able to leave the country.
But, just as he recovered from his leg injury, he received a message from the police in April asking him to come to the station so they could check his documents.
Daniel's monthly visa had expired and the school he was working for had failed to provide him with a new one, he claims.
"I got the job online, and I was assured by the agency I got the job through that I could work with a humanitarian visa," Daniel said.
He said when he hurt his leg he was unable to walk or work and that's when the visa expired.
"Not only could I physically not go to the immigration department to renew it, but my passport which they stamp the monthly visa in had run out of pages", he continued.
Authorities thought he was working illegally and five police officers interrogated him in the room with me.
"One time the head of police came in and started screaming at me calling me a liar saying my story was false - it was so scary.
"I forked out a fortune for a Chinese lawyer who spoke English, but in the end, I was still handed a week prison sentence for overstaying my visa."
"There was no trial or formal process - they just decided amongst themselves that that was my punishment."
All the inmates were Chinese and not one person, including the guards, spoke any English, he says.
Inmates had an upside-down bucket to sit on and a rock-hard prison bed with one blanket and prisoners were only allowed to lie on the bed at night, meaning for the rest of the time he was sandwiched between inmates with almost no space to move.
After picking up his new passport from immigration, Daniel was then deported and flew back to Heathrow from Beijing Airport on August 11.
"On the way to the airport I was convinced something would go wrong and I wouldn't be able to leave," Daniel said.
"But thankfully I was allowed to board the plane with no complications.
"I can now say I've spent a week inside a Chinese jail, which was the most stressful and horrific time of my life.
"But it hasn't put me off teaching abroad, and I'm confident I'll be travelling again in no time."
