Polanski's $2.7m jail bail-out

Director Roman Polanski is set free from jail after paying a staggering £2.7m bail-out to the Swiss authorities who arrested him at the Zurich airport last September.

The 78-year-old will now be placed under house arrest at his holiday home in the Alpine resort village of Gstaad.

The Pianist director surrendered his passport and personal documents as part of the bail-out agreement as well as the compulsory use of an electronic tag to track his movements at all times.

Polanski was arrested last September 26 by the Swiss police at the request of the US authorities as he travelled to Switzlerland to receive a lifelong achievement award.

The Oscar-winning director has been a fugitive for the US authorities since fleeing the country after pleading guilty to charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with an underage girl during a party in 1977.

Polanski was initially accused of raping the 13-year-old aspiring model Samantha Geimer plying her with pills and champagne in a hot tub at Jack Nicholson's Hollywood mansion.