Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Boris Becker’s daughter ‘in shock’ over his jail sentence

Anna Ermakova said she wrote a letter to the judge, expressing concerns that her 12-year-old half-brother will have no father figure.

Helen William
Sunday 01 May 2022 12:32 BST
Boris Becker’s daughter, Anna Ermakova, has said she is in ‘shock’ about her father’s prison sentence and fears it will be hard on his 12-year-old son, Amadeus (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
Boris Becker’s daughter, Anna Ermakova, has said she is in ‘shock’ about her father’s prison sentence and fears it will be hard on his 12-year-old son, Amadeus (Kirsty O’Connor/PA) (PA Wire)

Boris Becker’s daughter has said she is in “shock” about her father’s prison sentence and fears it will be hard on his young son.

Anna Ermakova said she had written to the judge who jailed her tennis champion father for two-and-a-half years for bankruptcy fraud, asking for leniency for the sake of his 12-year-old son, Amadeus.

Ms Ermakova, who was conceived during Becker’s infamous sexual encounter with waitress Angela Ermakova at London restaurant Nobu in 1999, told German newspaper Bild: “I wrote a letter to the court to express my concern for my little half-brother, Amadeus.

“After all, he is only 12 and will now have to do without a father figure, whom he will lack during a difficult phase of his development.

“It’s not fair to him. It’s going to be tough for Amadeus.”

Judge Deborah Taylor, sitting at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, gave the six-time Grand Slam champion a 30-month sentence, of which he will serve half, for hiding £2.5 million of assets and loans to avoid paying his debts.

The 54-year-old three-time Wimbledon champion and former world number one 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 Majorca, Spain.

BBC commentator Becker transferred almost 427,000 euros (around £390,000) from his business account to others, including those of his ex-wife Barbara Feltus and estranged wife Sharlely “Lilly” Becker.

The father-of-four also failed to declare his share in a £1 million property in his home town of Leimen, Germany, hid an 825,000 euro (almost £700,000) bank loan – worth £1.1 million with interest – and concealed 75,000 shares in a tech firm, valued at £66,000.

Becker, who was handed a two-year suspended sentence for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion worth 1.7 million euro (around £1.4 million) in Germany in 2002, was found guilty last month of four offences under the Insolvency Act between June 21 and October 3 2017.

Ms Ermakova also toldBild: “I will support him and I will visit him whenever I can.

“I hope that will help him a little to get through the time.”

Becker has two sons, Noah, 27, and Elias, 22, with his first wife, Ms Feltus, as well as Amadeus with his second wife, Dutch model Lilly Kerssenberg.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in