BRITON'S COUP PLOT TRIAL DATE SET

Former SAS officer Simon Mann is alleged to have been the leader of a group who planned to overthrow the West African's government in 2004.

Mann, 55, is currently being held in the notorious Black Beach prison in the capital Malabo, after being extradited secretly from Zimbabwe in February.

The trial, due to begin on Tuesday, will be Mann's first court appearance since his extradition. It will take place before a local judge and be observed by an African Union judge. The location of the courtroom has not been announced.

Mann is accused of "masterminding" the operation to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, according to a statement released by the Embassy of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea in Great Britain.

Mann, an old Etonian, was originally arrested with around 70 other people, mostly former soldiers, when their aircraft arrived at an airport in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, in March 2004.

They had gone to collect weapons bought from the Zimbabwe state arms maker, and insisted they were on their way to guard mining facilities in the Congo, even though they were found with uniforms identical to those of President Nguema's presidential guard.

Mark Thatcher, the son of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher, was given a suspended sentence in South Africa in relation to the funding of Mann's operation, though he has always denied any knowledge that a coup was being plotted.

In March, Mann admitted involvement in the conspiracy, but insisted he was not the "main man" behind the operation.

Officials from Equatorial Guinea have said that Mann will receive a "free, fair and transparent" trial.