Radical cleric Abu Qatada has appeared in court in Jordan after being deported from the UK.
His plane left RAF Northolt at 02:46 BST for his home country, where he was formally charged with terror offences.
Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "delighted" that his removal had been achieved.
Abu Qatada was first arrested over alleged terror connections
in 2001. He was rearrested in 2005, when attempts to deport him began.
The Palestinian-Jordanian cleric's deportation was finally
able to proceed after the UK and Jordan signed a treaty agreeing that
evidence obtained through torture would not be used against him.
Home Secretary Theresa May said she was glad that the government's determination to remove him had been "vindicated".
"This dangerous man has now been removed from our shores to face the courts in his own country," she said.
She added that she wanted to streamline such deportation processes in future.
"I am also clear that we need to make sense of our human
rights laws and remove the many layers of appeals available to foreign
nationals we want to deport.
"We are taking steps - including through the new Immigration Bill - to put this right."
Abu Qatada was accompanied on the flight of around five hours
by six people from Jordan, comprising three security officials, a
psychologist, a medical examiner and his Jordanian lawyer, the BBC
understands.
The 53-year-old had been held at Belmarsh
prison in south-east London, from where a convoy of three police
vehicles left at midnight.
After arriving at Jordan's Marka military airport he was
driven in a green SUV, escorted by a 12-car convoy, to the sealed off
state security court in Amman.
His father Mahmoud, who was not admitted to the court
building, told the AP news agency: "I have nothing to say, except my son
is innocent and I hope the court will set him free."
Military prosecutors charged him the conspiracy to carry out
terrorist acts - relating to a plot to bomb American and Israeli
tourists during Jordan's millennium celebrations.
The cleric - who did not get to see his family - was remanded
in custody and taken to eastern Jordan's Muwaqqar prison, a judicial
official said.
BBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani said Home
Office officials were "incredibly relieved" after "one of the most tense
weeks in the department's recent history".
"They were so concerned about the possibility that the cleric
could change his mind at the last minute that they were leaving nothing
to chance."
Speaking on BBC Breakfast later, Mrs May said she had been provided with updates on the deportation throughout the night.
She said she had been "as frustrated as the public" about the
estimated £1.7m cost and length of time it had taken to remove Abu
Qatada, but that people would welcome the end result.
She said she did not have any concerns about the treatment Abu Qatada would face when he arrived in Jordan.
She said: "The treaty we've signed ensures that there are
proper processes of exchange of evidence and will insure the treatment
of Abu Qatada and others deported to Jordan."
The 53-year-old had been held at Belmarsh
prison in south-east London, from where a convoy of three police
vehicles left at midnight.
After arriving at Jordan's Marka military airport he was
driven in a green SUV, escorted by a 12-car convoy, to the sealed off
state security court in Amman.
His father Mahmoud, who was not admitted to the court
building, told the AP news agency: "I have nothing to say, except my son
is innocent and I hope the court will set him free."
Military prosecutors charged him the conspiracy to carry out
terrorist acts - relating to a plot to bomb American and Israeli
tourists during Jordan's millennium celebrations.
The cleric - who did not get to see his family - was remanded
in custody and taken to eastern Jordan's Muwaqqar prison, a judicial
official said.
BBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani said Home
Office officials were "incredibly relieved" after "one of the most tense
weeks in the department's recent history".
"They were so concerned about the possibility that the cleric
could change his mind at the last minute that they were leaving nothing
to chance."
Speaking on BBC Breakfast later, Mrs May said she had been provided with updates on the deportation throughout the night.
She said she had been "as frustrated as the public" about the
estimated £1.7m cost and length of time it had taken to remove Abu
Qatada, but that people would welcome the end result.
She said she did not have any concerns about the treatment Abu Qatada would face when he arrived in Jordan.
She said: "The treaty we've signed ensures that there are
proper processes of exchange of evidence and will insure the treatment
of Abu Qatada and others deported to Jordan."
Mrs May said she hoped to reduce the number of appeals open to people
fighting to stay in the country and to look at Britain's relationship
with the European Court of Human Rights.
She said "nothing is off the table" when it comes to negotiating with Europe.
Asked on Sky News whether Abu Qatada's wife and children
would have the right to stay in the UK, Mrs May said they would have to
decide what they want their future to be before the government gets
involved.
Mr Cameron criticised a "caravan of lawyers" over the case,
adding that it had "made my blood boil that this man who has no right to
be in our country, who is a threat to our country and that it took so
long and it was so difficult to deport him, but we've done it, he is
back in Jordan that is excellent news."
Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Othman,
was granted asylum in the UK in 1994 but the Security Service came to
view him as a threat as his views hardened.
Richard Reid, the would-be mid-Atlantic shoe bomber, and
Zacarias Moussaoui, both jailed for involvement in terrorism, are said
to have sought religious advice from him.
The cleric's sermons were also found in a flat in the German city of Hamburg used by some of those involved in 9/11.
He vowed to fight the UK's 2005 decision to deport him to
Jordan to face retrial over bomb plot allegations - setting in motion an
eight-year legal battle.
The dispute continued until May this year, when the cleric
accepted that his right to a fair trial there was protected by the new
treaty between Jordan and the UK.
Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed the
deportation and backed Mrs May's call for a more streamlined process in
future.
She said: "The home secretary has been right to get further
guarantees from Jordan and we should welcome the series of agreements
from the Jordanian government too.
"We must ensure that delays like this do not last for so long in future and that the system is reformed to make it faster."
Keith Vaz, chairman of Parliament's Home Affairs Select
Committee, questioned why the government had not started work on a
treaty with Jordan at an earlier stage in the process.
"The home secretary's legal advisers will have questions to
answer as to why they didn't conceive of this scheme earlier which would
have prevented a cost to the taxpayer of £1.7m."