British lawyer David Mills has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for accepting a $600,000 bribe from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 1997.

The sentence of four years and six months imprisonment for corruption was read out by a judge in a Milan court yesterday.

Prosecutors had called for a sentence of four years and eight months in prison for Dr Mills.

Dr Mills said he would appeal the sentence.

"I am hopeful that the verdict and sentence will be set aside on appeal, and I am told that I will have excellent grounds," he said in a statement.

Mr Berlusconi currently has immunity in the case in which he had been charged with paying Mr Mills the bribe from alleged "secret funds" held by his Mediaset SpA company - Italy's largest private broadcaster - to withhold incriminating details about his business dealings.

Dr Mills's estranged wife, British Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, said she had never doubted his innocence. "This is a terrible blow for David," she said in a statement issued by her office.

Dr Mills's lawyer, Federico Cecconi, said the sentence "shows full acceptance of the prosecution's line, which is anything but obvious and well founded".

Dr Mills said the case was "highly political."

He must also pay €250,000 in damages to the Prime Minister's office which was cited as a victim of the crime in March 2007, when the incumbent was Mr Berlusconi's rival Romano Prodi.

Mr Berlusconi, like Dr Mills, has maintained he was innocent in the case.

In July last year Mr Berlusconi's government introduced the law which gave him, alongside the head of state and the presidents of both chambers of parliament, immunity while in office. Its validity is currently being decided by Italy's Constitutional Court.