The case of Roman Polanski, who thirty years ago drugged and raped a 13-year old girl and then fled the US before sentencing after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, has brought into sharp relief the fact that some Hollywood celebrities appear to feel that artistic accomplishments should give someone the right to stand above the law. Quite why the fact that Polanski has made great films, or that his crimes were committed a long time ago, should allow them to be ignored is a little bemusing. If he really believes these charges should be dropped then let him return to the USA and face the courts he fled from.

To me it doesn't seem unreasonable that Polanski is having to suffer for his admitted misdeeds, though it's a shame that the operation of the media publicity machine inevitably means his victim will also have to face renewed exposure. Her public statements have an unusual poignancy: she probably just wants the whole matter to be forgotten (I believe, but thankfully cannot know, that I would want the same in her situation).

I don't claim to know all the ins and outs of the case, though I find the facts repugnant. But it is reassuring to know that failure to submit to the courts at the time of the crime doesn't give you a free pass thirty years later. Polanski's rich and powerful friends can screech all they like about his achievements, but if his current incarceration makes even one potential child rapist think again it will be serving some purpose. At least in Switzerland (though not in the minds of his Hollywood apologists), it appears, the rich and the poor are subject to the same law.