He had no regrets about his exile to London he said

He had no regrets about his exile to London, he said."Although I have no money I am more happy than I was when I was in power This is a better life than being there. There is terrible stress there, my friend, and there is no freedom. Often I had to dodge in the night to go and see my girlfriends, you know being young."The article said Strasser spent his days listening to loud reggae music, much of the time in his bedroom. But a few years ago the 33-year-old former body-builder with a penchant for Nike caps and T-shirts was the world's youngest head of state.Swept to power in a military coup in 1992, aged 26, Captain Strasser cut an exotic figure at gatherings of world leaders. He was the man everyone wanted to meet, despite widespread criticism of his human rights record.He was said to be a shy, almost reclusive figure, but during his four years in power he met the Queen, Bill Clinton, John Major and Nelson Mandela. When he travelled abroad he would abandon his military fatigues for designer jackets and Ray-bans, and the press courted him."He is tall, genuinely dark and handsome and everyone wanted to find out more about the telegenic figure who mounted a coup last year at the age of 26," said a newspaper report of the 1993 Commonwealth Conference in Limassol, Cyprus.Little was known about Strasser's background except that he had been born in 1966 and educated at Sierra Leone Grammar School, qualifying for university but opted instead for military academy.After service in Liberia with the West Africa Peace Force he had returned to Sierra Leone and won honours in anti-rebel action, which left him injured but led to promotion.

Within months, he had become the driving force among mutineers who overthrew the president, General Joseph Momoh.After he seized control, he was greeted as a hero by a crowd of 25,000 in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.The young army captain and his entourage of twentysomething fellow officers, affectionately known as "the boys", had promised to crush the threat from the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front still brutalising the country today. But eight months later the Strasser government shocked the world by shooting 26 people on a beach for allegedly plotting a coup.Later, Amnesty International said people suspected of supporting rebel forces had been tortured and ill-treated. Amnesty added that serious human rights abuses had also been committed by rebels.Increasingly, the Strasser regime came under pressure. The abuses, the failure to put down the RUF rebellion and fears that the president might not honour a commitment to restore democracy by the end of 1995 caused early nervousness in the international community. "I know I will come under pressure here," he told The Independent at the Limassol conference.

"I think it's just that military governments are not fashionable any more."To make matters worse, four Britons were arrested in Sierra Leone, accused of plotting to overthrow the president. After a year in prison under threat of execution, the four, who said they were holidaymakers, were freed when the prosecution dropped the case Things went from bad to worse. By January 1995 Sierra Leone state radio was urging citizens to "have sticks and stones and machetes ready" as hundreds of people poured into Freetown telling tales of torture, mutilation and cannibalism by rebels.Government soldiers were also accused of fresh atrocities. Later that year, Britain said it was reconsidering plans to train Sierra Leone officers because they were also being helped by South African mercenaries.In January 1996, it was over. Strasser's armed forces chief, Julius Maada Bio, now in exile in America, overthrew his president in a coup.

Strasser and his wife were flown to neighbouring Guinea in handcuffs. Months later elections were won by Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, who is still, precariously, in power.Strasser flew on to Britain, where he started a law course at Warwick University, aided by a grant from the UN. His arrival created a stir, but the former dictator asked to be left alone "I am trying to keep this as low profile as possible. I don't want anyone to know where I am or what I am doing," he said.. Robert Nugent never had the chance to meet his great-uncle George, who was killed in the Battle of the Somme. Nor has he been to France, but on 1 July he will travel to Thiepval to attend a full military funeral for his unknown relative. Robert Nugent never had the chance to meet his great-uncle George, who was killed in the Battle of the Somme.

Nor has he been to France, but on 1 July he will travel to Thiepval to attend a full military funeral for his unknown relative. Private George Nugent 22/1306, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, known as the Third Tyneside Scottish, was among 70,000 British and Empire soldiers missing, presumed dead, after the bloody battles of 1916.His family never knew what became of him, and his great-nephews, Leonard Hoy and Mr Nugent, and his great-niece, Margaret Huitson, have only vague memories of their grandmother talking about "our Geordie" who was killed in the war. But two years ago his remains and some possessions were found by two British tourists near an old shell crater, and after an intense search by the Ministry of Defence and an appeal in The Independent, his family was traced."It's not as if we knew him so it will be a strange ceremony, but there is definitely a feeling there," said Mr Nugent yesterday. Mr Hoy held the cut-throat razor on which his great-uncle had crudely scratched his name and Army number. "It gives you a bit of a chill to think that he used this and it's still here," he said. "He feels like part of the family even though we have never seen him and don't know anything about him. It makes you feel very proud though."The family, who still live in Newcastle near Pte Nugent's old home, travelled to London on Thursday to meet MoD officials who led the search to find them, and look at the artefacts with his body.