"Life behind bars in South Africa"

Mark Thatcher, in court over a coup plot, has built a new life amid the millionaires' mansions of Constantia. Raymond Whitaker reports

26 November 2004

Last Christmas, the recently widowed Baroness Thatcher enjoyed an afternoon in the company of her son and some of his friends by the sun-drenched pool of his luxury home in Cape Town.

Among them was a certain Simon Mann, and several other former crack soldiers known to Sir Mark. The Iron Lady could have had no idea that months later, some of those present would be desperately denying involvement in a mercenaries' plot to overthrow the dictatorship of President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.

Sir Mark himself faces questioning regarding his alleged role. A hearing scheduled for today has been postponed for two weeks. The wait goes on.

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