Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was distressed about the arrest of her son Mark in South Africa but "very confident" that he will be cleared of charges linking him to an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, her family's spokesman said Thursday.

Thatcher's son arrested in S. Africa over coup plot

Sir Mark Thatcher, aged 51, was arrested Wednesday and is currently under house arrest in Cape Town and facing the possibility of 15 years in jail over the accusations.

"She is obviously distressed about the fact her son appears to be in some difficulty," the spokesman, Lord Bell, told Channel 4 television.

"She is very confident about the South African legal process and she is sure he will be cleared and named innocent at the end of it," he said.

He also denied that Mark was planning to flee South Africa, despite claims by the country's authorities that he was looking to leave and put his luxury home in Cape Town on the market and had sold some of his cars.

The spokesman said Mark had discussed selling his house, but only because he was planning to move to another Cape Town suburb.

Source: Xinhua