THE Hampshire man languishing in a west African jail following a failed coup plot last night admitted he was its "manager" but not the "architect".

Speaking publicly for the first time since his arrest four years ago Simon Mann tried to implicate others above him and said he should have called off the operation.

"I blame myself for not saying cut' two months before we were arrested. That's what I should have done. I was bloody stupid," he said.

The former SAS squadron leader turned soldier of fortune is in jail in oil rich Equatorial Guinea facing allegations that he is a mercenary who tried to topple its Government in 2004. Mr Mann said he had deep regrets about the failed operation.

"You go tiger shooting and you don't expect the tiger to win," he said.

"I've been saying how sorry I am to everybody for four years now."

Mr Mann who lived at Inchmery House, Exbury, near Beaulieu, was arrested in Zimbabwe and served a four-year prison sentence for immigration offences before being deported in January to Equatorial Guinea.

Last night it was revealed he faces charges of terrorist conspiracy and attempting to murder the president.

If convicted he will spend many years in the notorious Black Beach prison, although the death penalty has been ruled out, Government officials said.

Speaking from the prison in the capital, Malabo, where he is awaiting trial Mr Mann, 55, said: "I was, if you like, the manager, not the architect and not the main man."

He said that title belonged to the elusive Lebanese multimillionaire businessman and British Citizen Ely Calil.

Mr Calil has consistently denied any involvement in the coup and accused Mr Mann of making contradictory statements Mr Mann said in the interview with Channel 4 News that "wonga", or money, was a motivation but the "primary motivation" was to help the people of Equatorial Guinea.

He claimed he was "grossly misled".

"They gave the strong impression that things were diabolically bad here. And that a regime change was a crying need. They also told me that the regime was faltering and was in a state of collapse."

He added that either the country had rapidly changed or: "I was told a load of rubbish."

Turning to his capture and treatment, Mr Mann, who remained shackled and handcuffed throughout the interview, said: "Basically I was kidnapped and smuggled out of Zimbabwe with gratuitous violence in complete contravention of Zimbabwean law."

He said he had been pushed and shoved around, and hit with a gun. In Zimbabwe he was held with leg irons and handcuffs behind his back with nowhere to sit down.

Speaking from Black Beach prison and looking relaxed he said conditions had now improved.

"Obviously I'm a prisoner and it's not a five star hotel but I'm being treated well. My accommodation is good. There is water. There is food. I'm under no coercion."

He denied the UK or USA Government ministers of having pre-knowledge of the coup attempt. He was arrested in March 2004 with 68 South African and Angolan mercenaries on arrival at Harare airport, the capital of Zimbabwe.

Mann maintained nothing happened despite his intentions of bringing about a coup.

"There was no attempt. We didn't ever get any weapons. We didn't get on an aircraft to come here".

He added: "I'm actually a victim of a far more serious crime than I've ever committed."

The attorney-general of Equatorial Guinea, a country that has been criticised by Amnesty International for its human right's record, said an independent judge from the African Union would be invited to monitor Mr Mann's trial which is due to start later this month.

In a South African court in 2005, Mark Thatcher - son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - pleaded guilty to unwittingly helping to bankroll the coup attempt by hiring a helicopter for Mr Mann, a former neighbour in Cape Town. Mr Thatcher was fined £250,000 and received a suspended sentence.

SPEAKING OUT: Former British special forces soldier Simon Mann pictured in prison.