A FUGITIVE Mafia boss wanted by the Italian authorities told police officers who arrested him "I'm not going back, they will kill me", a court heard.
Domenico Rancadore, 64, is wanted in Italy to serve a seven-year jail term for his role as "a man of honour" in the Cosa Nostra.
He was denied bail for a second time at Westminster Magistrates' Court after being arrested earlier this month at his £360,000 family home in Uxbridge.
Prosecutor Aaron Watkins told the court there were "overwhelming grounds" to suspect Rancadore would have gone on the run if he had been granted bail.
Rancadore wore a rugby shirt and clutched a white Bible as a female interpreter translated District Judge Quentin Purdy's rejection of his request for bail.
He shook his head and exchanged glances with English wife Anne Skinner, who sat in the public gallery.
The court heard that he had offered Mrs Skinner's home in Uxbridge as a surety for bail, in addition to £10,000. But District Judge Purdy said: "It seems to me clear that if you are released on bail there is a risk you will disappear."
Mr Purdy said Rancadore would appear before the same court via video link on September 20.
Westminster Magistrates' Court was told earlier this month that Rancadore was a leader in a murderous gang that "spread terror in Sicily".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article