Disgraced tennis champion Boris Becker faces deportation from the UK as early as next year after being transferred to a prison used to lock up foreign criminals.
The three-time Wimbledon winner was reportedly moved to the lower security HMP Huntercombe in the Oxfordshire countryside from Wandsworth prison, which was two miles away from Centre Court where he burst onto the tennis scene winning the tournament aged just 17.
According to the Times, Becker’s lawyer told journalists in Berlin on Tuesday that he has been transferred to the lower security category C Huntercombe prison near Henley-on-Thames.
The Daily Mail quoted a UK Government source saying Becker met the criteria to be considered for deportation and his case would be considered in the usual way.
The six-time Grand Slam champion would qualify for automatic deportation because he is a foreign national who is not thought to have British citizenship and has received a prison sentence of more than 12 months.
He could appeal against the decision.
The former world number one and BBC commentator was declared bankrupt on June 21 2017 – owing creditors almost £50 million – over an unpaid loan of more than £3 million on his estate in Mallorca.
Becker, now 54, told Southwark Crown Court last month that his £38 million fortune had been obliterated by a divorce, child maintenance and “expensive lifestyle commitments”.
The jury was reminded about Becker’s 2002 conviction in Germany for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion after living in the country while officially a resident of Monaco – with the prosecution saying it suggested a “propensity” for being dishonest and hiding information from authorities.
