Boris Becker has been moved to a cushier prison wing after complaining about his small cell. The tennis legend is currently incarcerated at HMP Wandsworth and has now been transferred from Block E to the Trinity Wing, which is reported to be more ‘hands off’.
Former inmate Chris Atkins supported this claim, saying: “Trinity has more relaxed supervision. Prisoners have more opportunities to leave their cells, for example, to work, educate yourself, do sports and socialise.” Last week the German reportedly complained about the food and lack of hygiene.
Prison sources said he was struggling to adapt to the food on offer, or lack thereof, and he is using his £10 weekly allowance to top up meals with chocolate, biscuits and bananas. It was also mentioned that he found the overcrowding difficult to adjust to as well as suffering from a lack of sleep in his six square metre cell.
A source told the Sun: “He is having a rough time and the worst thing of all is the food. He cannot believe how bad it is and how small the portions are. One of his first meals was corned beef, which wasn't good. But he will have to get used to it. He is also shocked at the lack of hygiene at the prison because it's so overcrowded.” The German is spending time behind bars at Wandsworth prison after he was handed a two-and-a-half year custodial sentence for hiding assets during bankruptcy proceedings.
However, Becker is expected to spend just 15 months locked up, with the rest of his term served on licence. According to Tennis365, despite the length of his sentence, Becker expects to be out of prison before the end of the year. A source told the publication: “He’s very confident he’ll be back in Germany well before Christmas.
“He believes he would be out on licence there by Christmas as they have a much more lenient justice system”. This comes after it was reported Becker could be booted out of the UK. He has lived in Britain since 2012 but will be considered for deportation as he does not have British citizenship.
Foreigners sentenced to more than 12 months in prison could be kicked out of the UK as their expulsion “is deemed to be conducive to the public good”. A source said: “Boris always said he would get citizenship but never did.
“Criminals from overseas can be deported if their sentence is serious enough. Boris is likely to be considered.” In 2015, Becker said he enjoyed living in West London and was going to apply for British citizenship.
It is believed he never made the application and is not “naturalised” in the UK. The UK Government's Early Removal Scheme states that: “Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity”.
