Ex-SAS man gets 7 years in Zimbabwe

MANN

• Mann: A man in need of 'major clout'

• Equatorial Guinea coup trial mirrors novel

• Freed 'mercenaries' claim they were tortured

• Ex-SAS man guilty of weapons charges

• Thatcher busted over coup funding claims, planned to flee

• Zim won't send 'mercenaries' to E Guinea

• Alleged mercenaries 'just pawns' - lawyers

• 'Mercenary' trial nears end

• Judge to hand down judgements

• Ex-SAS officer pleads guilty to weapons charges

• Zim 69 plead guilty to lesser charges

• SA in secret talks over Mann

• Zim 70 to face trial in July

• Mugabe barters mercenaries for oil

• 'Mercenaries' planned jail escape

• 'Mercenary' plane seized in Zimbabwe

• Mugabe officials had deal with mercenaries

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By Agencies

FORMER British special forces soldier Simon Mann, who allegedly led a foiled coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for trying to buy weapons from Zimbabwe's state arms manufacturer.

Two flight crew members were sentenced to 16 months in prison and 66 other mercenary suspects received 12-month jail terms on minor immigration and aviation charges.

Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe handed down the sentence for Mann, 51, in the makeshift courthouse inside the Chikurubi maximum security prison near Harare.

The men have been detained at the prison since their arrest March 7 at the Harare International airport.

At earlier hearings, Mann admitted trying to order assault rifles, grenades, anti-tank rocket launchers and other weapons from the Zimbabwe Defense Industries - an offence punishable by a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Mann showed no emotion during sentencing.

As befits the son of an England cricket captain and the heir to a brewing fortune, Mann studied at Eton, the exclusive English private school favoured by princes and the political elite.

Eton was followed by Sandhurst, the prestigious military academy, and from there it was a natural progression to the Scots Guards, an army regiment associated with royalty and the upper class of British society.

Mann then joined the SAS, the army's special-forces unit, rising swiftly through the ranks to become a commander.

After reportedly serving in Cyprus, Germany, central America and Northern Ireland, he left the military in 1981, returning to its ranks only briefly 10 years later to work for Britain's Gulf War commander, Gen Peter de la Billiere.

During the 1980s, Mann sold computer security equipment and ran a business providing bodyguards to wealthy clients.

In the early 1990s, he set up Executive Outcomes, a security consultancy, with his associate Tony Buckingham.

Executive Outcomes developed a formidable reputation delivering advice - and armed guards - to protect businesses operating in conflict zones - AFP
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