listening. His family's assets and bank accounts have been frozen; his passport demanded for surrender. There are legal charges against his eight-bedroom, mock-Tudor family home in North London, amounting to tens of millions of pounds, in the names of some of Britain's most famous business figures. Alas, the bank accounts that he recently opened in Northern Cyprus are beyond the reach of British investigators. A small consolation. He is still in deep, deep trouble. A friend said that his wife Tracey, 42, spends most of her time now on the phone to lawyers - 'frantically' trying to hold on to what they have, fearing that this whole situation is going to leave them penniless. Another source told the Mail that Beano's parents and sister, who live in Israel in properties bought for them by Beano as wedding and retirement presents, have in the past 48 hours met for crisis talks. There is a growing acceptance that the worst-case scenario may come to pass; if charges are brought, their silver-tongued golden boy, who was used to rubbing shoulders with the Queen at Royal Ascot every year, might soon be spending a good deal more time at Her Majesty's pleasure. Beano was not born to the high life. Beano should come with a Government health warning According to an associate who has known him for more than two decades, his was a lower-middle-class, traditional upbringing on the northern fringes of London. The family lived in Watford and his father was a watch