London - British mercenary Simon Mann arrived back home Wednesday after being pardoned by the President of Equatorial Guinea following his 2008 conviction in connection with an attempted coup in the oil-rich west African state. Mann, 57, was sentenced to 34 years in July 2008 for his role in the coup attempt, in which the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was also implicated.
He was pardoned after serving just 15 months Tuesday by Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguenama.
"This is the most wonderful homecoming I could ever have imagined," Mann said in a statement released as he touched down in a private jet at Luton airport, north of London.
The former officer in the British Army's elite Special Air Service (SAS), and graduate of Britain's prestigious Eton College, was extradited from Zimbabwe in January 2008 to face trial in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea.
He was arrested in Zimbabwe in 2004 along with 69 others when they attempted to pick up a shipment of arms. They served four years there before being extradited.
Arms dealer Nick du Toit was among four South Africans also issued a pardon.
British police have said they want to question Mann in connection with the 2004 plot to to topple Equatorial Guinea's government and install opposition leader Severo Moto.
During his trial, Mann told the court that Mark Thatcher, the son of the former British prime minister, was "part of the management team" behind the coup attempt.
Thatcher, who now lives in Britain and Spain, has always denied involvement in the coup.
However, he was fined 500,000 dollars and given a four-year suspended sentence in South Africa in 2005 for his role in funding the coup attempt.
Mann fingered Lebanese-British oil tycoon Eli Calil as the mastermind of the attempt to seize control of the oil-rich country during his trial.
He said Thatcher agreed to provide a helicopter to transport the opposition leader, who was then living in Spain, to Equatorial Guinea to take over from Obiang.
Thatcher claimed he thought he was providing a helicopter for an air ambulance company in West Africa.
