BAYERN MUNICH star Lucas Hernandez will start his six-month prison sentence on October 28 after turning up at court a day early to receive his official jail notification.
The France international had been expected to attend court in Madrid on Tuesday to be told he must enter prison within ten days to begin his sentence for breaching a restraining order.
But the 25-year-old defender started the ball rolling on the ten-day deadline by showing up ‘voluntarily’ to receive a copy of the judge’s order on Monday.
His early appearance means he now has until a week next Thursday to enter a Spanish prison of his choice.
The development comes just less than a week after it emerged his request to have his prison sentence suspended, had been rejected.
He was sentenced in December 2019 after breaching a restraining order preventing him from going near his then-partner Amelia Lorente, but allowed to remain a free man while he sought a suspension.
Hernandez received 31 days community service and a restraining order, preventing him from going within 500 metres of pretty brunette Amelia for six months, in March 2017 after being convicted of a domestic abuse charge.
His partner received the same punishment.
Lucas was arrested on June 13 ,2017, at Madrid Barajas Airport as he got off a flight from Miami with Amelia following their honeymoon in the States.
She reportedly escaped arrest at the time after she proved she had not been informed about the restraining order.
The Marseille-born defender, capped 29 times by France at senior level, failed to get his prison sentence suspended because he is not a first-time offender in Spain.
Confirming Hernandez was now in receipt of his official prison entry notification, a spokesman for the judge who made the order said in a statement naming the Frenchman only as Lucas Francoise B.H.
He said: “He showed up voluntarily at court this morning at 11.30am.
“It was one day before he was summonsed by Madrid Criminal Court Number 32 so he could be informed about his entry into prison for breaching his restraining order.
“Given that he collected his notification on October 18, he now has 10 days to voluntarily present himself in prison. That expires at midnight on Thursday, October 28.”
Hernandez’s fate now lies with the result of a final appeal to a higher provincial court called Madrid’s Audiencia Provincial.
Hernandez and Amelia married in Las Vegas in the summer of 2017 despite being told they must stay away from each other following the domestic violence incident.
They are thought to have tied the knot in secret on June 2 that year, where they went on to have a son called Martin.
In March 2019 Amelia revealed on social media they were no longer together.
She said at the time: “A mother always thinks twice, once for her and another time for her son. Only you and me my baby.”
Hernandez is expected to wait until he knows the result of his final appeal before turning up at the prison of his choice in Spain to start his sentence.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
