The seven-time world champion has led a secret life since his 2013 skiing accident
The family of Michael Schumacher has announced it will launch an appeal after his former bodyguard was sentenced in a £12million blackmail case. Markus Fritsche is set to be jailed for two years after he was accused of attempting to extort the staggering total from the Formula One icon’s family.
He and two others were alleged to have threatened to release 1,500 images, 200 videos and personal medical notes about the ex Ferrari driver who was victim of a horrid skiing accident in 2013. The 53-year-old was one of three men on trial in the German city of Wuppertal accused of conspiring with nightclub bouncer Yilmaz Tozturkan, 53, and IT expert Daniel Lins, 30, to steal the confidential information. Tozturkan contacted the Schumacher family and threatened to publish the information online unless a £12m payment as made. Tozturkan is already in jail for an unrelated crime, has been given a further three years amid suggestions by the Schumacher family that he should have received five years. Lins was handed a six-month suspended sentence. The duo both denied the allegations put towards them. Michael Schumacher's family has now broken their silence, voicing anger at the verdict and has announced they will lodge an appeal. Reported by Planet F1, a statement from a representative of Schumacher's wife, Corinna, read: "We have appealed against what we consider to be the far too lenient sentence for Mr F. In my opinion, he was the mastermind behind this. What still shocks me most is the massive breach of trust. He should receive a punishment that deters any potential copycats." In December 2013, the sporting world was shaken to its core after news emerged that Schumacher had suffered a serious skiing accident. At the time, the former Ferrari driver was airlifted to a hospital, where he was placed in a medically-induced coma until June 2014. Since then Schumacher's condition has remained a close knit secret.
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