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Notorious British property magnate Nicholas van Hoogstraten has branded his criminal convictions "bull***" in a bombshell interview with the Express.

The Sussex-born billionaire, 80, first came to national prominence in the late 1960s when he was convicted for paying a gang to throw a grenade into Brighton cantor Rabbi Bernard Braunstein's house.

Although he was sentenced to four years behind bars, the owner of a sprawling unfinished mansion in the Sussex countryside, estimated to be worth as much as £100m if ever completed, has denied responsibility for the crime.

"Some gangsters from London used to come down here to Hove regularly. They wanted to try and impress me and, on the basis they were doing me a favour, lobbed a hand grenade into [Braunstein's] house."

He added: "Imagine throwing a hand grenade into someone's house for £3,000. All they had to do was grab the guy and chop his b******s off or, like we do today, chop his hand off."

At this point, his son Max Hamilton, 40, who was also present for the interview, said, "That was a joke," to which his father replied, "No, it wasn't."

The grenade incident didn't prove to be Hoogstraten's last brush with the law. Around 30 years later, in June 1999, his business associate Mohammed Sabir Raja, 62, whom he'd fallen out with over an owed debt and legal dispute, was stabbed five times and shot in the face with a sawn-off shotgun at his home in South London.

His grandsons, who were upstairs when the attack took place, claimed he shouted in Punjabi, "these are Hoogstraten's men. They've hit me, they've hit me."

The property magnate was charged with murder and tried at the Old Bailey. Initially found guilty of manslaughter, Hoogtraten was cleared on appeal.

Speaking to the Express he claimed the charge was "bull****."

"I was on trial at court number one at the Old Bailey, but it was absolute bull****. Anyone who sat through the case could see that."

He also felt that jurors were influenced by his notorious reputation and links to the infamous Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, whom he befriended because of his vast land holdings in the country.

"Everyone knew already that I was stinking rich and was in bed with Mugabe," he added.

Hoogstraten's relationship with the country began when he was a teenager. He bought land in what was then Rhodesia from an estate without seeing it. When he finally visited some years later, he "fell in love" with the place.

He claimed descriptions of him as "this white man who's owned more of Zimbabwe than anyone else" were an unfair characterisation of his relationship with the African country.

"I am responsible for thousands of people. They are living on my land and working for my companies," he added.

These 'responsibilities' he said included healthcare and education.

"We even give them hampers," Hoogstraten added. "I did something that nobody has done since the white farmers left and that's providing everything for the black people."

Hoogstraten defended his relationship with the country's infamous tyrant and asserted that he "wasn't involved in any corruption."

"I used to deal with him on a personal basis," he says. "He used to clear everyone out of the room and say, 'Nick, tell me the truth.'"