SIR Mark Thatcher is reported to be hoping to escape to the Channel Islands to hide from possible kidnap squads from an African state.

A national newspaper has suggested that Baroness Thatcher’s son is house-hunting in Guernsey. In April Sir Mark (54) denied that he was looking for a place to live, despite having coffee with Matthew Henry, the managing director of Guernsey estate agents Swoffers.

Dismissing rumours at the time, Sir Mark said: ‘I come here all the time because I have a lot of friends in Guernsey and I meet up with them regularly. In fact I was here last week, and I’ll be here next week as well. I’ve known Matt for a long time, and while I’m always interested in what’s going on, it would be wrong to say that I’m actively looking to buy a house.’

Sir Mark’s friend, mercenary Simon Mann — who also banks in Guernsey — has just been jailed for 34 years in Equatorial Guinea, now Africa’s third largest oil producer, for a role in a botched 2004 plot to overthrow president Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Both men admitted a role in the plot. But Sir Mark told a South African court that his participation had been ‘unwitting’ after he admitted investing in a helicopter for the coup.