HARARE, Aug 27 (AFP) - Simon Mann, educated at one Britain's top private schools and a former member of the crack SAS troops, was equally at home in London's best drawing rooms as in less salubrious spots in Africa where his firm provided security.
Mann was convicted on Friday of attempting to purchase weapons for an alleged plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, where newly discovered oil reserves have attracted several foreign firms and generated great international interest.
The prosecution has asked that he be given between five and 15 years in prison when the court hands down a sentence on September 10.
Mann's lawyers said he and 69 men being detained with him in Zimbabwe, where they were arrested in March when their plane stopped over to pick up arms, were on their way to provide security at diamond mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The greying 51-year-old, who has been held in solitary confinement in Harare's Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, is linked to mercenary and security outfits set up in the early 1990s.
He and Nick du Toit, a South African being held as a co-conspirator in Equatorial Guinea, set up Executive Outcomes, which operated from Pretoria in South Africa and helped the Angolan government protect its oil installations from rebels during that country's long civil war.
The son of an English cricket captain, Mann -- who holds both British and South African passports -- was educated at Eton. He went on for officer training at the prestigious Sandhurst Academy.
He joined the Special Air Service (SAS) and is reported to have served in Cyprus, Germany, Norway, Canada, central America and Northern Ireland before leaving the army in 1981.
Mann, who lived in the posh Cape Town suburb of Constantia -- also home to Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Diana, and Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher -- allegedly used the 'old boy' network to finance his deals, media reports say.
Thatcher, who was arrested in South Africa on Wednesday for allegedly bankrolling the coup plot in Equatorial Guinea, had admitted to his friendship with Mann but denied involvement in the supposed putsch.
Thatcher's name was dragged in after Mann allegedly smuggled out a letter from jail urging that those supposedly involved in the plot, including "Scratcher" -- a presumed reference to Thatcher -- should "pull their weight, media reports said.
"Our situation is not very good and very URGENT. This is not going well. I must say once again: what will get out is MAJOR CLOUT ... We need heavy influence of the sort that ... Scratcher" and other people allegedly involved, have.
Mann reportedly said bribes could settle the affair, evoking a call for a "large splodge of wonga" and adding: "Now it's bad times and everyone has to pull their f*****g weight."
Reports say Mann worked briefly selling advanced computer software before accepting contracts for security work.
He is also featured in a film reconstruction for British television of the Bloody Sunday massacre in northern Ireland in 1972.
Mann is used to the high life. In England, he is reported to own Inchmery, an estate that once belonged to the world-famous Rothschild banking family.
But imprisoned in Harare's top jail and granted only one basic meal a day, Mann's circumstances have now changed beyond recognition.