Jailed Megaupload boss has female fan club

WEIGHING a whopping 294 pounds, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom might seem an unlikely target for romantic advances. But the 6ft 4in ubergeek told a court on Friday  he has received a deluge of letters.

They are from women   all anxious to be his pen pal as he waits on remand in a New Zealand jail.

Dotcom said the advances from female prisoners were unwelcome, and reminded the court he has a wife and five children, as he asked for bail in light of various health problems including diabetes, The Times reports.

While prosecutors told the court that the German-Finnish national posed an "extreme" flight risk, his lawyer pointed out that his distinctive physical bulk would make it hard for Dotcom to slip unnoticed out of the country.

But the court did not grant bail and the eccentric internet millionaire will now remain in prison until at least 22 February, when the US will file its application to have him extradited to face charges of internet piracy and money laundering.

Dotcom also gave his version of  his dramatic arrest on 20 January.

In a massive police raid on his $30 million  country mansion, cars worth $6 million, including a Rolls-Royce Phantom drophead coupe, were seized. Police found him hiding in a panic room, where a gun loaded with plastic bullets was hidden in a safe.

Dotcom told the court he was frightened and fled to the room as part of an emergency plan formulated by his bodyguard, Wayne Tempero.

The self-styled nerd told the court the gun belonged to Tempero. Dotcom said he had no intention of using it – and would not know how to.

Dotcom told the court that police oficers had assaulted him: "I was punched in the face, I was kicked down on the floor. One guy was standing on my hand so my nail was ruptured and my hand was bleeding. It was quite aggressive."