Oh Tommy - BORIS WANTS A WORD

From the latest utterances of Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, it looks as if he does not have a care in the world, so confident does he appear to his adoring public. This confidence has now extended to him bringing forth a new book dishonestly titled “Silenced”. Lennon has been so silenced that there are few days when he is not putting out videos featuring the thoughts of Himself Personally Now.

What Lennon is not telling his fans, though, is that the High Court appearance he failed to make recently may have serious consequences for him. He was to have been “examined” about issues around his recent bankruptcy, not least the allegation that he may have concealed assets from the courts, that his bankruptcy may have been pre-planned in order to put assets out of reach while they were still possibly under his control.

When he addressed that issue recently, Lennon was quite sure he was in the clear. However, and here we encounter a significantly sized however, the legal process is far from over, and if he has been deliberately concealing assets, he could find himself in an environment with which he has become familiar over the years - the prison system.

To show what might await Lennon if that legal process becomes a campaign that develops not necessarily to his advantage, the BBC reported yesterday on another recent court appearance, this one featuring someone who is genuinely famous. “Ex-tennis star Boris Becker has been found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act relating to his 2017 bankruptcy”. What had Becker done to bring the action upon himself?

“The former world number one was accused of hiding millions of pounds worth of assets to avoid paying his debts … He was declared bankrupt in June 2017 over an unpaid loan of more than £3m on his estate in Mallorca, Spain … Becker, 54, was acquitted of a further 20 charges at London's Southwark Crown Court on Friday”. And there was more.

“The six-time Grand Slam champion told reporters outside court he would not be commenting on the verdict”. Why so? “He was found guilty of transferring hundreds of thousands of pounds from his business account after his bankruptcy, failing to declare a property in Germany, and concealing €825,000 of debt”. Sound familiar, Tommy fans?

And the potential penalty? “He could face a jail sentence carrying a maximum term of seven years for each count … Becker has been bailed ahead of a sentencing hearing on 29 April”. Now, given he has been, as they say, of previous good character, Becker will most likely escape a long stretch down the Scrubs. But Stephen Lennon does not have that on his side: he has significant previous, including more than one prison spell.

So the question for Lennon is, as Inspector Harry Callahan put it more than half a century ago, is simply this: do you feel lucky? Because if he doesn’t get lucky, and is found to have been concealing assets from the courts while declaring himself bankrupt, he might find himself not just in deep legal doo-doo, but being handed a handful down Belmarsh.

The genuinely famous, like Boris Becker, are not above the law. So it’s a racing certainly that Stephen Lennon isn’t, whether he bothers himself to turn up to court or not.

When that court date happens, the world will know. Because he still hasn’t been silenced.

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