It was March 2008 and I had flown from London to interview Britain's most famous soldier of fortune - who died suddenly aged 72 on Friday - in Africa's most infamous jail, Black Beach.
As news of his sudden demise, aged 72, swept through London 's military clubland yesterday, some of his old comrades could not help wondering whether his death with his past catching up with him.
Old Etonian Simon Mann, who served in the Scots Guards after Sandhurst, was one of a group of 70 mercenaries arrested in Zimbabwe for attempting to stage a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea in 2004.