phewww - finally got the stereo out last night after some helpful advice from my local dealer - thanks Stratstone Stourbidge!
According to one of the techs there, it is Land Rover wisdom that if they make the stereo extremely tricky to get out then they wont get stolen!!! (erm methinks if somebody wants it then they will just do as much damage as they can to get it, but hey!)
Basically, you need to remove the cubby between the front seats and the work your way forward removing the handbrake shroud, the casing for the heater controls etc. and keep going until you can get the casing from round the stereo off.
AFter all that there are no phono leads coming from the back, just a spare square lead that i think is an RCA (going to check at MAplins to be sure)
For reference, the stereo in an 06 Freelander is a Visteon FL5CDX6, if anybody else is trying to source similar
Cheers
Stu