Coup plotter's Bloody Sunday role

Simon Mann, the former British soldier sentenced to 34 years in jail for his role in an African coup plot, made his sole foray into the acting world in 2002 in a drama about Bloody Sunday.

Mann played the role of Colonel Derek Wilford, commander of the paratroopers who fired on marchers in Londonderry in 1972.

The 2002 production Bloody Sunday starred James Nesbitt as civil rights campaigner Ivan Cooper.

Mann told the Guardian newspaper he took the part to "defend the Army".

However, he described the events of Bloody Sunday as a "cock-up".

Paul Greengrass, the director and writer of Bloody Sunday, said Mann was a "humane man, but an adventurer... very English, a romantic, tremendously good company".

On Monday, Mann was jailed for 34 years and four months by a court in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a 2004 coup plot.

The verdict followed Mann's trial in the capital Malabo last month in which he admitted conspiring to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

The former special forces officer, 56, had expressed remorse, saying he was not the most senior coup plotter.

Mann was held in 2004 with 64 others in Zimbabwe before being extradited.

He served four years in a prison in the country for trying to purchase weapons without a licence.

Mann is also believed to have served in Northern Ireland during his Army career.