The governor of the Italian region of Lazio has resigned after the arrest of four police officers who allegedly tried to blackmail him.

A court heard that the four carabinieri had video recordings showing governor Piero Marrazzo half naked with a trans-sexual. Mr Marrazzo, a member of the centre-left Democratic Party, described the affair as “a private matter influenced by my inherent personal weaknesses".

Italian pro-government newspapers had compared the blackmail scandal to allegations by a prostitute earlier this year that she had slept with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.