Boris Becker slams German media for ‘fake’ stories about him complaining about corned beef in prison and accuses guards of passing tales to press
- The former tennis star is said to be upset by misleading German media reports
- German media alleged Becker had moaned about corned beef on the menu and complained about the size of his cell after using the emergency button
- Becker’s lawyer denied he had been using his £10-a-week prison allowance to buy chocolate, biscuits and bananas from the canteen
Becker has been given his own cell, but he is likely to be moved to a shared one this week, a prison source said. It will be 6ft by 12ft with a concrete floor and a toilet with no seat or privacy curtain
Boris Becker’s lawyer has said staff of the prison where he is serving his sentence may be making up fake stories about him and sending them to the press.
The former tennis star is said to be upset by misleading reports from German media about his life in prison reporting that he moaned about corned beef on the menu and complained about the size of his cell.
Stories from German newspaper Bild alleged Becker had been pressing the emergency button in his cell at Wandsworth jail in south London to complain.
Becker, 54, was jailed for two and a half years in April for concealing assets following his 2017 bankruptcy.
‘Almost nothing that has been read in the past few weeks, especially the big headlines, is true,’ his lawyer, Christian-Oliver Moser, told RTL.
‘Of course the situation is not nice, but he accepts it,’ added the lawyer, who went on to suggest that: ‘I assume there are people who work in the prison’ who could be passing on fake stories about the convicted sportsman.
Hitting out against the media reports, Becker’s lawyer denied he had been using his £10-a-week prison allowance to buy chocolate, biscuits and bananas from the canteen.
Wandsworth Prison, a 170-year-old Victorian building housing more than 1,300 inmates, is regularly described as one of the UK’s worst jails
Wandsworth Prison, where Boris Becker is expected to spend the duration of his prison sentence for bankruptcy fraud
This is the bleak and dehumanising environment that greeted a stunned Becker, 54, when he arrived in the prison
A report this year by Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, revealed a jail blighted by drug abuse and mental health problems, where ‘desperately bored’ inmates spend more than 22 hours a day in dilapidated cells
Bild reported that Becker had been moved from block E to the more spacious Trinity wing after complaining about the size of his cell.
The newspaper also claimed the prison had made special allowances for Becker, allowing him to make two phone calls after arriving to his girlfriend, Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, and mother, Elvira Becker.
‘There is nothing to corroborate these reports and like many other claims such as moving cells and refusing food, it is not true,’ a prison source told The Times.
Wandsworth Prison, a 170-year-old Victorian building housing more than 1,300 inmates, is regularly described as one of the UK’s worst jails.
A report from Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of Prisons, found that on average one violent attack occurred every day among inmates in 2020/21, while prison staff used force nearly four times a day.
Becker has been given his own cell, but he may be moved to a shared one. It is reportedly 6ft by 12ft with a concrete floor and a toilet with no seat or privacy curtain.
Boris Becker and his partner Lilian de Carvalho are seen arriving at Southwark Crown Court in London for sentencing on 29 April
New inmates taken into Wandsworth prison are forced to remain in the lockup’s ‘induction wing’ for seven to ten days upon arrival due to ongoing Covid restrictions.
Wandsworth is a remand prison used to temporarily detain criminals who are later transferred to serve their sentences elsewhere.
Because Becker’s offences were non-violent it is likely his new jail will have a lower security category.
He is likely to be moved to a low-security prison within weeks because his offences weren’t violent.
Following an initial stint at Wansworth, he may serve just 10 months behind bars before spending the rest of his two-and-a-half-year sentence on an electronic tag.
After serving his sentence, Becker could also be deported to Germany.
The 54-year-old got a two-year suspended sentence for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion worth £1.4million in Germany in 2002, was found guilty on April 8 of four Insolvency Act offences between June and October 2017.
Judge Deborah Taylor sentenced the six-time Grand Slam champion to 30 months’ imprisonment, of which he will serve at least half.
Bild did not respond to request for comment before press time.
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