‘You’ve lost it all... but shown no remorse and no humility’
Judge’s stark words as she jails Becker for 2 and a half years in bankruptcy case
TENNIS legend Boris Becker was jailed yesterday for hiding millions of pounds of assets and loans following his bankruptcy.
A judge ignored the former world No 1’s pleas that he had ‘literally nothing’ left and sentenced him to two and a half years in prison.
Becker, who will serve at least half of the sentence, was also condemned for his lack of remorse or humility.
His partner, Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, blew the three-time Wimbledon champion a kiss as he was led down to the cells at Southwark Crown Court.
Red-faced Becker, 54, who wore a striped Wimbledon purple and green tie, crouched to do his shoelaces and then struggled to lift his large Puma holdall as he was led away by a court officer.
His defence team tried to secure a lenient sentence with the astonishing claim that no other bankrupt in Britain will suffer as much as Becker has.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC described the BBC pundit’s downfall as a ‘tragedy’ and said he had already suffered public humiliation.
‘Boris Becker has literally nothing and there’s also nothing to show for what was the most glittering of sporting careers,’ he said. ‘His fall is not simply a fall from grace but amounts to the most public humiliation.
‘The degree of his suffering, and it will continue, is punishment that no other bankrupt in this country is likely to ever experience.’
But Judge Deborah Taylor, recorder of Westminster, rejected the pleas. ‘You have lost your career and reputation, all of your property,’ she told Becker. ‘You have not shown remorse, acceptance of your guilt and have sought to distance yourself from your offending and your bankruptcy.
‘While I accept the humiliation you might have felt as a result of these proceedings, there has been no humility.’
Father-of-four Becker was declared bankrupt on June 21, 2017, owing creditors almost £50 million. Earlier this month, he was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act.
Judge Taylor said she took into account Becker’s 2002 conviction in Germany for a £1.7million tax evasion, for which he was handed a two-year suspended sentence.
She told him: ‘You did not heed the warning you were given and the chance you were given by the suspended sentence and that is a significant aggravating factor.’
Becker’s mother, Elvira, 87, had written to the judge urging her not to jail her son, describing him as a ‘decent boy overall’.
But Judge Taylor said she could not spare the six-time Grand Slam winner from prison.
Becker had told jurors he had earned more than £40 million from prize money and endorsements during his playing career following a meteoric rise to superstardom when he became the youngest Wimbledon men’s singles winner in 1985 aged 17.
But his earnings were swallowed up by an expensive divorce from his first wife, Barbara, child maintenance payments, poor investments and ‘expensive lifestyle commitments’, the court heard.
The German sportsman, who has lived in Britain since 2012, used his business account as a ‘personal piggy bank’ to pay
‘Most public humiliation’
Walking to his fate with lover... ...who later leaves alone
expenses including school fees for his children. Becker’s friend and fellow former tennis star Andrew Castle told LBC he was shocked Becker had been jailed. ‘I’m sad that his life has come to this and I hope he’s able to rebuild on the other side,’ he said. ‘If you don’t pay your creditors, you pay the price.’
It is thought that Becker will spend at least some of his sentence in HMP Wandsworth, south-west London.