Former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has been fined six-figure sum after incident involving neighbour

Jens Lehmann has been fined £113,000 by a court for an incident that happened in his hometown of Starnberg – and the details are quite extraordinary.

The 54-year-old former Arsenal goalkeeper, who was part of the 2003/04 side that went the entire season unbeaten, was accused by the public prosecutor of damaging his neighbour's garage in July 2022.

In fact, Lehmann did so with a chainsaw and sawed off a roof beam following a long-running feud, according to German publication Bild.

Wishing to seek a better view of Lake Starnberg at his £4.2 million property in southern Bavaria, the former Germany international is said to have taken the power tool to the garage in an attempt to resolve the matter.

Lehmann also tried to turn off the CCTV so that he was not seen but did not succeed, with his neighbour able to watch the rampage unfold on a live broadcast.

The police were then called to his house after the incident, which caused hundreds of pounds of damage.

After ripping through the garage beams in a so-called 'frenzy of rage', he was initially fined £351,000 over the incident. However, that sum has been reduced on appeal.

“Mr Lehmann accepts responsibility. He has come to an agreement with his neighbour,” said Lehmann’s lawyer Florian Ufer, who also confirmed the former goalkeeper has paid up after being accused of avoiding payment of parking fees at Munich Airport.

The 54-year-old had “consistently portrayed himself as a victim of the justice system”, according to Judge Tanja Walter. She added that Lehmann was “not a victim" but "a perpetrator”.

Stefan Kreutzer, the public prosecutor, said Lehmann’s behaviour proved “that he obviously believes he is above the law”.

Back in June last year, Lehmann took to social media in an attempt to clear his name. "The allegations made against me are not correct," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"The fraud allegations made against me concern an unpaid parking ticket over €90. The damage, as always, is the enormous damage to reputation and disregard for privacy."

Image credit: Getty

Earlier this year, Lehmann purchased the 'Invincibles' trademark, preventing any other brand from using the term, including his former club Arsenal.

According to the Daily Mail, Arsenal had never considered securing the trademark and were unaware that anyone had plans to do so.

Lehmann is said to have began the process in late 2020, which cost £30,000 in total.

"I had the idea because the name Invincibles becomes more and more popular approaching the 20th anniversary," Lehmann told the Mail.

"And nobody had it so I was looking into it. I was ready to get the branding rights for our group, so everybody who's using it is violating our brand."