The government has confirmed that former German tennis player Boris Becker has been released from a British prison. The 55-year-old Baker, who has been behind bars since the beginning of this year for bankruptcy fraud, is likely to be deported from the country in the near future.
A London court sentenced the six-time Grand Slam winner in April this year to two and a half years in prison for withholding more than 2.5 million euros after declaring bankruptcy. Becker took out an outstanding loan of more than 3 million euros after buying his property on the Spanish island of Mallorca. He would have been in the red with his creditors for a total of around €60m. He had previously been convicted of tax evasion in 2002. For this he was given a suspended prison sentence in his home country.
Baker only served eight months of his sentence in England. Becker was expected to serve half of his sentence in prison, but the German was immediately released and would be deported from the country. So Baker will leave the UK years later. The great German tennis star has been living in England since 2012.
The 55-year-old former tennis player was eligible for automatic deportation as a foreigner without a British passport and was sentenced to more than 12 months in prison.
Grand Slam
Becker won Wimbledon for the first time in 1985 at the age of 17. In London, the German was also crowned winner in 1986 and 1989. He also won the Australian Open in 1991 and 1996 and won the US Open in 1989.
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