Roman Polanski has contacted authorities in LA to ask that he be sentenced in his absence in relation to that much previously reported conviction of sex with a minor dating back to 1978. As you will surely remember, the film director admitted to the charge as part of a plea deal all those years ago, but fled the US shortly afterwards when the judge overseeing the case reneged on the said plea deal, and has been living as a fugitive in Europe ever since.

He was recently apprehended in Switzerland, of course, where he is currently under house arrest, and where authorities have yet to make a decision about whether he be extradited back to the US. Presumably, that's what legal types in LA are hoping for; Deputy district attorney David Walgren objected to Polanski's request to be sentenced in his absence, and demanded he "show his face" in court. "The people are adamant that a fugitive not dictate the court's processes", he told superior court judge Peter Espinoza.

Espinoza hasn't taken a decision as to whether it would be appropriate to go ahead with sentencing or not. He plans to rule on the matter at a hearing on 22 January.