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| Pardoned Briton's joy at return | Pardoned Briton's joy at return |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Former British soldier Simon Mann has expressed his joy at being freed from prison in Equatorial Guinea and said it is "the best early Christmas present". | Former British soldier Simon Mann has expressed his joy at being freed from prison in Equatorial Guinea and said it is "the best early Christmas present". |
| Mann, 57, arrived at Luton airport after being pardoned and released from a 34-year jail term in the West African state for his part in a coup plot. | Mann, 57, arrived at Luton airport after being pardoned and released from a 34-year jail term in the West African state for his part in a coup plot. |
| In a statement, he said it was "the most wonderful homecoming". | In a statement, he said it was "the most wonderful homecoming". |
| He also said he was looking forward to meeting his son Arthur - born while he was in prison - for the first time. | He also said he was looking forward to meeting his son Arthur - born while he was in prison - for the first time. |
| Mann's spokesman, Ian Monk, read a statement from him in which he said he had spent "five and a half tough years" in prison "much of it in solitary confinement". | |
| "There hasn't been a moment in the last five and a half years when I have not dreamt of being back in Britain with my family," he said. | |
| "I'm hugely grateful to President Obiang for releasing me. It's the best, best early Christmas present I could have possible ever imagined." | |
| 'A pawn' | |
| Mann was arrested in Zimbabwe in March 2004, along with 63 others, amid suspicions they were mercenaries intent on toppling Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. | |
| He served three years in a Zimbabwean jail before being extradited to Equatorial Guinea in 2008 where he was tried and convicted. | |
| He admitted conspiring to oust President Obiang, but said he had only been "a pawn" in the plot. | |
| On Tuesday, the president pardoned and released him on humanitarian grounds, citing his health - Mann had a hernia operation in 2008. |