Boris Becker 'hid horses in his bedroom' to hide them from debt collectors, wife claims
5 July 2023, 08:06 | Updated: 5 July 2023, 09:10
Former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker hid his horses in his bedroom to hide them from debt collectors, his estranged wife has claimed.
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The disgraced tennis ace, 55, was jailed in April 2022 for hiding £2.5million of assets after being declared bankrupt, and served nearly eight months in prison.
His wife Lilly Becker, 47, said he hid the horses in his Mallorca mansion when the debt collectors turned up in 2017, at around the same time he claimed to be bankrupt.
Lilly said: "The guy tries to go into the master bedroom but Boris had hid the horses.You have to pay taxes on them and he hadn’t.
"You see the funny side of the story because you walk into the bedroom and there’s a horse, she told an upcoming ITVX documentary. "I’m sorry, that’s funny."
Becker was deported back to Germany late last year. He and Lilly, his second wife, separated in 2018 after nine years of marriage but are not believed to be formally divorced.
Becker said: “There’s just something about this guy. He is sweet, kind, funny.
"But he’s also arrogant and he’s a liar. All the women and the girls and the gossip, I was insecure. There was no guide, I wasn’t prepared but he’s done this all his life."
Lilly said one day he said he wanted to marry then told her: “We’re not going to work out.”
She earlier described her husband as "a devil" who could be "extremely hurtful with words".
Becker, who lived in the UK from 2012, told his trial that his £38m career earnings had been swallowed up by an expensive divorce, child maintenance payments and “expensive lifestyle commitments”.
After he was declared bankrupt over an unpaid £3m loan in 2017, Southwark Crown Court heard he should have declared all assets to independent trustees who would distribute them to creditors.
However, Becker had almost £1m in a business account used as a “piggy bank” for personal expenses. Jurors heard that the pundit and coach quickly transferred around £350,000 to nine recipients.
Becker also failed to declare his share in a £1m property in his German hometown of Leimen, hid an 825,000 euro (almost £700,000) bank loan - worth £1.1m with interest - and concealed 75,000 shares in a tech company, which were valued at £66,000.
Becker was found guilty of four charges, including including failing to disclose, concealing and removing significant assets, under the Insolvency Act 1986.
In the documentary, he denies the claim he did not pay taxes on the horses and that he hid them in the bedroom.
