In pictures: Colonel Gaddafi - The ‘mad dog’ who ruled Libya with an iron grip

For four decades the wilful, mercurial figure of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya with an iron grip while remaining a persistent thorn in the side of the West.

Branded “mad dog” by Ronald Reagan, the outlandish antics, flamboyant dress and bombastic pronouncements of the self-styled “Brother Leader” made him a figure of ridicule at times.

During his travels abroad he was accompanied by a blonde Ukrainian nurse and insisted on staying in his Bedouin tent, protected by his team of glamorous, gun-toting female bodyguards.

When he was interviewed by the BBC’s John Simpson, he noisily broke wind throughout their encounter.

But he has also been associated with some of the most notorious terrorist atrocities of the pre-9/11 era.

He shipped arms to the IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and his regime has accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.

At home in Libya he ruthlessly crushed dissent against his autocratic rule while his agents hunted down and killed opponents abroad.

When his people - inspired by the the Arab Spring - finally rose up against him earlier this year, he responded with a characteristic mixture of bluster and brutality calling for the “devils” to be cleansed.

But for all the outrage over his flouting of international norms, he was also seen by diplomats as a wily political operator, proving to be one of the great survivors in a turbulent region.

Through assassination attempts, sanctions and US airstrikes, he doggedly clung to power.