The woman raped by Roman Polanski wants the case against him to be thrown out for the sake of her mental health. Samantha Geimer - known as Samantha Gailey when the film director assaulted her when she was just 13 - has pleaded with the Californian justice system to drop the charges as she can't cope with the constant media attention.

Roman Polanski's wife has asked a host of film stars to join her fight to prevent the director being extradited to America. The 76-year-old Oscar-winner - who fled the U.S. to France in 1978 after being convicted of unlawful sex with a minor - was arrested on Saturday in Zurich, Switzerland, and faces being sent back to the U.S. so his actress wife Emmanuelle Seigner has begun compiling a petition calling for his release.