by John Whittingdale, a former political secretary to Margaret Thatcher. 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt Thatcher was arrested at his home in Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa, in August 2004 and was charged with contravening two sections of South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act, which bans South African residents from taking part in any foreign military activity. The charges related to possible funding and logistical assistance in relation to an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea organized by Thatcher's friend, Simon Mann. He was released on 2 million rand bail. On 24 November 2004, the Cape Town High Court upheld a subpoena from the South African Justice Ministry that required him to answer under oath questions from Equatorial Guinean authorities regarding the alleged coup attempt. He was due to face questioning on 25 November 2004, regarding offences under the South African Foreign Military Assistance Act; these proceedings were later postponed until 8 April 2005. Ultimately, following a process of plea bargaining, Thatcher pleaded guilty in January 2005 to breaking anti-mercenary legislation in South Africa by investing in an aircraft without taking proper investigations into what it would be used for, admitting in court that he had paid the money, but said he was under the impression it was to be invested in an air ambulance service to help impoverished Africans. The judge rejected this explanation and Thatcher was fined R3,000,000 and received a four-year suspended prison sentence. An advisor to Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo told the BBC's Focus on Africa television programme that: "We are confident that justice has been done", and did not indicate that the country would seek Thatcher's extradition. During his trial in Equatorial Guinea in June 2008 Simon Mann said that Thatcher "was not just an investor, he came completely on board and became a part of the management team" of the coup plot. Personal life Thatcher moved to Dallas, Texas, in the mid-1980s, where he met his first wife, Diane Burgdorf (later wife of James Beckett), in 1987. Their first child, Michael Thatcher, was born in 1989, and their second child, Amanda Margaret Thatcher, was born in 1993. In 1992, he became The Honourable Mark Thatcher when his mother was made a life peer. In 1996, he moved to South Africa following financial scandals in the United States. In 2003, he became The Honourable Sir Mark Thatcher when he succeeded to the