London: German tennis legend and three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker has reportedly landed a prison job teaching sports science, but fellow inmates are up in arms against the authorities for giving ‘preferential treatment’ to the 54-year-old, who is serving a two-and-a-half year sentence for hiding 2.5 million pounds sterling worth of assets and loans to avoid paying debts.
Though Becker continues to deny breaking UK insolvency laws after he was declared bankrupt in 2017, owning creditors almost 50 million pounds, he was found guilty of four charges by a jury under the Insolvency Act and sent to prison.
A report in The Sun has said Becker has got the “part-time role as a classroom assistant, teaching PE theory and benefits of exercise to other prisoners”, but the move has not gone down well with other inmates who are accusing the authorities of favouritism.
The report added that some of the inmates’ families have complained to the governor regarding Becker, who is housed at category C HMP Huntercombe in Oxfordshire.
An insider was quoted as saying in the report that one has to serve years to get a job as a classroom assistant, which Becker has got in just a few weeks’ time.
“You would normally serve years before getting a job as a classroom assistant as it is seen as a privilege. But Becker has been given the job within weeks of being sentenced. There is a lot of resentment about it and the families of some prisoners have written letters of complaint,” the insider was quoted as saying.
“It’s untrue to suggest any preferential treatment was given. Offenders are able to access a variety of work and education opportunities while in prison,” a Prison Service spokesman was quoted as saying in the report.
The report added that Becker could be repatriated to Germany by November under the UK’s Early Removal Scheme.
–IANS