An appeal will be launched against a decision to grant bail to a fugitive Mafia boss arrested in London after evading Italian authorities for 20 years.

Domenico Rancadore, 64, is wanted in Italy to serve a seven-year jail term for collecting bribes from builders in Trabia near Palermo.

Chief magistrate Howard Riddle granted him bail at Westminster Magistrates' Court today, but he was not released after prosecutor Hannah Hinton issued notice to lodge an appeal against the decision.

She said the appeal will be heard at the High Court either today or tomorrow.

Rancadore was arrested on August 8 at his home in Uxbridge, west London, where he lived under the false name Marc Skinner with his English wife and children.

He told officers upon his arrest that he was not going back to Italy because "they will kill me", the court heard.

The conditions of bail set out by the chief magistrate included £50,000 security, residency at his home, a curfew and reporting to a police station twice daily.

The court has previously heard that Rancadore was a leader in a murderous gang that "spread terror in Sicily".

He was convicted of Mafia links in Italy in his absence after he had come to live in the UK with his family in 1993.