Melandri gets suspended sentence for tax evasion

Honda MotoGP rider Marco Melandri of Italy puts on his headset during a practice session at the Sepang circuit outside Kuala Lumpur October 8, 2010.

ROME (Reuters) - Former motorcycling world champion Marco Melandri has been given a 19-month suspended jail sentence for inventing a fictitious residence in England in order to avoid millions of euros of Italian tax between 2003 and 2005.

Prosecutors said that while the BMW rider was supposedly resident near Donnington Park race track, the flow of money and his assets showed that his financial interests remained in his home town of Ravenna.

The 2002 world MotoGP 250cc champion had already reached agreement with the Italian tax authorities over his debts.

Melandri is third in the 2012 superbike world championship with 328.5 points, 29.5 points behind leader and compatriot Max Biaggi.

(Reporting by Terry Daley; Editing by Clare Fallon)