Roman Polanski gets bail – and an electronic tag

Roman Polanski, who is languishing in a Swiss prison while the United States applies to extradite him on underage sex charges, has been granted bail by a Swiss court

However, the 76-year-old film director will have to remain in prison for the time being, because the Swiss Ministry of Justice has 10 days to decide whether it wants to appeal the ruling.

Polanski was detained two months ago when he travelled to Zurich for a film festival - reportedly after a tip-off from the Swiss Federal Office of Justice. If his bail is confirmed, Polanski will be released on a £2.7m bond and kept under house arrest. The director will surrender his passport and be electronically tagged so that if he attempts to leave his chalet in the resort of Gstaad, an alarm will be set off.

Polanski had previously been refused bail because he is considered a high 'flight risk'. His main home is in France, which can refuse to extradite its citizens to the US - and Gstaad is a mere 40 miles from the French border.

The director fled from Los Angeles to Paris, via London, in 1978 because he feared a Californian judge would refuse to honour the terms of a plea bargain after he agreed to undergo psychological evaluation following his unlawful sexual intercourse with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer.

The Swiss judges agreed to bail Polanski on the grounds of his family circumstances. His lawyer, Herve Temime, said Polanski’s 43-year-old wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, and his son Elvis and daughter Morgane are "very upset psychologically by this separation that is a true heartbreak for them".