Thatcher son's 'coup hotel' is being razed

A SOUTH African mansion where former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s son Mark hosted a group of ex-SAS mercenaries plotting a notorious coup attempt is being demolished.

- Jamie Pyatt

The disgraced son of Britain’s first female Premier was arrested in 2004 at the extravagant safari-styled country residence by an elite South African police squad known as the Scorpions.

His embarrassed mother had spent holidays at a retirement cottage in the two-acre grounds from where the plot to overthrow an oil-rich African dictatorship was discussed.

Sir Mark, then 51, was said to be preparing to flee the country when the coup was foiled and reputedly had his bags packed at the Constantia mansion near Cape Town when police swooped.

He was accused of bankrolling the socalled “Wonga Coup” to topple the dictator of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, led by neighbour and close pal, the ex-SAS army officer Simon Mann.