Jeremy Forrest, the maths teacher who ran from the UK with his pupil, has arrived back in the UK on Wednesday, sources said.
The 30-year-old married amateur musician, from Ringmer, East Sussex, left a French airport for Britain on Wednesday afternoon.
He eloped with the teenager on 20 September, sparking a Europe-wide search and prompting public appeals from both sets of families.
The pair were eventually found in Bordeaux, and Forrest was arrested on suspicion of child abduction following the issuing of a European Arrest Warrant.
Forrest boarding a plane in France on Wednesday
Forrest appeared before magistrates in the French city last week, and his UK solicitor Phil Smith has said his client looks forward to the "full story" emerging in the coming months.
His pupil has returned to her home town and been reunited with her family.
She was reported missing when she failed to turn up for school and it emerged she had travelled to France with Forrest.
The pair were spotted on CCTV cameras on a cross-Channel ferry from Dover to Calais and later tracked to Bordeaux where they were recognised by a member of the public who had seen television coverage of the case.
Forrest, 30, absconded from the UK with a pupil
According to reports, he touted a bogus CV around bars in the city as he sought cash-in-hand work.
Before her disappearance, the schoolgirl told her mother that she was going to spend the night at a friend's house.
Her mother said she was "really excitable" and was "jumping around". A message was later sent to one of her friends saying she had arrived safely in France.
The investigation was ramped up when she and Forrest failed to use return ferry tickets on September 23.
Forrest in France last week, where he was awaiting extradition
A European Arrest Warrant was issued and the case featured on BBC's Crimewatch.
It has been claimed that Forrest was due to be suspended by the school the day before he and the girl went to France.
East Sussex County Council has confirmed it and school officials were "addressing and investigating concerns", but it has not said when those were made and declined to comment on suggestions he was facing suspension.
The girl's headteacher said the school would offer support to the teenager and her family "as they seek to return to some sort of normality".
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