Boris Becker released from custody in Great Britain | Current Europe | DW

Former tennis star Boris Becker has been released after more than seven months in British custody. The German was released from prison in Great Britain and has already moved to Germany, his lawyer Christian-Oliver Moser told the German Press Agency. “He has thus served his sentence and is not subject to any criminal restrictions in Germany,” the prosecutor said in a statement.

According to British media reports, Becker’s remaining two-and-a-half-year sentence will expire. However, the 55-year-old must not return to his adopted country of Great Britain until his actual sentence expires. Becker, who is from Leimen in Baden-Württemberg, has lived in London for several years but does not hold British citizenship.

Becker benefits from a severance plan

Under British law, prisoners cannot be paroled until they have served at least half their sentence. For Becker, that’s 15 months, with a deadline of July 29, 2023. However, the former exceptional athlete benefited from a special dismissal and deportation program. Any foreign detainee is eligible to be “released from prison and deportable twelve months prior to the date of release.” The plan is to ease pressure on Britain’s overcrowded prisons.

The three-time Wimbledon winner was convicted in London on April 29 of delaying bankruptcy after he hid assets worth millions from his bankruptcy trustees. He was originally charged with 24 charges, but was found guilty of only four. The court found him guilty of transferring large sums of money from a business account to the accounts of his ex-wives, Barbara and Lily, and of not fully fulfilling his disclosure obligations in his bankruptcy proceedings.

Becker was declared bankrupt by the court in 2017. He then had to declare his assets to the bankruptcy trustees – but he left out important parts in the court’s opinion. Becker denied disclosing his assets and hiding his debts. He was last held at Hundercombe Prison, west of the British capital.

kle/se (dpa, sid, afp)