Pope's failed assassin wants £3m for story after leaving jail

The man who shot Pope John Paul II wants to sell his story for £3m after being released from a Turkish prison yesterday.

Mehmet Ali Agca, 52, left his jail cell in Ankara yesterday after serving 29 years.

Exiting the prison, Mr Agca proclaimed apocalypse to the reporters waiting to speak to him.

"I proclaim the end of the world," he told them. "All the world will be destroyed this century. Every human being will die in this century.

"I am not God and I am not the son of God. I am the Christ eternal."

Mr Agca is reported to be asking $2m (£1.2m) for a television interview and $5m (£3m) to publish two books, one of which would be his autobiography. He has also reportedly written to bestselling Da Vinci code author Dan Brown inviting him to tell his story.

Mr Agca could make a fortune telling the world why he tried to kill the Pope, something he has never explained.

The Pope survived being shot by Mr Agca four times as he rode in an open top vehicle in St Peter's Square in Rome in 1981.

After his recovery, the Pope forgave his would-be assassin and met him in his prison cell, where he prayed for him.

Mr Agca was later released in 2000 at the request of the Pope but was imprisoned in Turkey for his involvement in robberies and the murder of a newspaper editor in 1979.

Following his release yesterday, Mr Agca was declared mentally unbalanced by doctors and not fit for military service.