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Michael Schumacher's wife Corinna has reportedly taken a tougher stance on those with access to her husband, after the family fell victim to a blackmail attempt which threatened to leak details concerning his health.
The Daily Mail last year exclusively revealed details of the extortion bid on the seven-time Formula One champion, who has not been seen in public since a horrific ski accident in 2013.
Three men including Schumacher's former bodyguard Markus Fritsche, were on trial after hard drives containing confidential pictures, videos and medical records were stolen from a computer.
Nightclub bouncer Yilmaz Tozturkan, and his IT expert son Daniel Lins, denied blackmail and insisted they were offering the Schumacher family a 'business deal'.
The trial has heard more than 1,500 images, videos and confidential medical records were downloaded from a computer and given to Fritsche who passed them to Tozturkan who said he would 'upload them on to the dark web' unless £12million was paid.
In February, Tozturkan was sentenced to three years in prison, but is free on €10,000 bail, while Lins was given a six-month suspended sentence.
Michael Schumacher has not been seen in public since his horrific skiing accident in 2013 (pictured in 2003)
Schumacher's wife Corinna had criticised sentences issued to three men earlier this year, after they had allegedly demanded millions to stop them uploading photos of the star to the dark web
Both Tozturkan and Lins had confessed, but Fritsche denied any involvement.
Fritsche was given a two-year suspended sentence at Wuppertal district court.
The three defendants filed appeals earlier this year, with the Schumacher family joining as co-plaintiffs.
Corinna and the rest of the Schumacher family had released a statement claiming the punishments were 'far too lenient' - highlighting Fritsche's in particular as not severe enough - in fear of copycat crimes being committed in the future.
Lins has withdrawn his appeal against his sentence, which is now legally binding.
Speaking at the appeal trial at Wuppertal Regional Court, Schumacher's former manager Sabine Kehm admitted the extortion attempt had led to the family becoming more cautious.
Kehm revealed that Corinna and the rest of the Schumacher family have taken a 'tougher stance' to protect details around Michael's health.
'The breach of trust has led to the family maintaining a greater distance from the people who work for them, to being more cautious,' Kehm said, as reported by BILD.
Sabine Kehm, who worked as Schumacher's press officer and manager, revealed the family have become more cautious with access following the extortion attempt
Details of Schumacher's health conditions have been kept strictly private for over 12 years
Corinna expressed fears the leniency of the sentence could lead to copycat crimes and further invasions of privacy, with the Schumacher family joining appeals over the sentences
'I personally find it extremely perfidious that they want to exploit the suffering like this, so it's clear why the family is taking a tougher stance towards their loved ones.
'Even if you separate and aren't happy about it, that doesn't justify something like this. Corinna is watching this with bitterness.
'And it's obvious that certain media outlets will send photographers back to the site. It makes you feel somewhat restricted.'
In total, the inner circle around Michael Schumacher has reportedly been reduced to just nine people.
The inner circle includes Corinna, their children Mick and Gina-Maria, as well as Kehm.
Former F1 boss Jean Todt, who has a three-decade friendship with Schumacher, and his former Benetton and Ferrari technical director Boss Brawn are also included.
Former drivers Gerhard Berger, Luca Badoer and Felipe Massa are said to complete the inner circle, with the trio among those to have visited Schumacher.
Little is known about Schumacher's health 12 years after the catastrophic accident the star suffered while skiing in the French Alps with his racing driver son Mick, with close friends sworn to the utmost secrecy over their visits to the family's £50million home in Gland, Switzerland.
Schumacher is believed to be receiving medical treatment at his £50m mansion in Gland
Corinna has played a key role in drawing a veil of secrecy over her husband's health in the years since the accident
Schumacher's privacy has seen many people try and cash in on the information vacuum.
An executive at the helicopter air rescue company that transferred him from a French hospital to Switzerland six months after the crash allegedly tried to steal his medical records and sell them to several European media outlets for €50,000 (£40,000).
French prosecutors tracked the IP address of the computer used in the theft to Rega, the main operator of air ambulances in Switzerland. At the time, the company acknowledged it had received a medical file to assist in Schumacher's move, but strenuously denied being involved in the theft.
Prosecutors from France and Switzerland managed to trace the alleged theft back to the air rescue executive, who was promptly arrested and placed in a prison cell in Zurich.
But the next morning, hours before he was scheduled to go before court, officers discovered that the man had hanged himself in his cell.
Authorities did not release the man's name, age, or nationality. But Zurich's prosecutor's office said at the time that he had acted alone, and that there were no indications that he was mentally unstable or suicidal.
One year later, the family narrowly avoided another catastrophic leak when an unnamed 'friend' granted access to Schumacher's home managed to snap a picture and smuggle it out.
The image was allegedly being bandied about to European media groups with a price tag of one million euros.
One of Schumacher's closest friends Jean Todt regularly visits the star - but keeps details closely under wraps
But German prosecutors swiftly intervened, declaring the photograph and its attempted sale constituted a 'violation of his personal range of life' and a breach of privacy.
The image never surfaced, and to this day there have never been any photos of Schumacher taken after the accident.
Reports last year suggested that Schumacher had been seen in public, at the wedding of his daughter Gina.
Gina tied the knot with her boyfriend Iain Bethke at the family's luxury villa in Majorca, and it was claimed that Schumacher was there to witness the ceremony.
Guests were reportedly forced to hand over their phones to prevent photos being leaked of the stricken ex-racing driver.
However, his close friend Johnny Herbert, who raced in Formula One between 1989 and 2000, later rubbished the reports and described them as 'fake news'.
Herbert told Flashscore in November: 'It will always be a closed shop. The most recent rumour was he attended his daughter’s wedding. Unfortunately, from what I understand that was all AI fake news and no truth in it.'
