Adams family brother told to pay £1.2m or face seven more years

A member of the notorious Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate has been ordered to pay back £1.2 million from a money laundering racket or face another seven years in prison.

Tommy Adams, 61, was locked up in 2017 after a police bug in a Holborn café recorded him discussing his illegal activities, and his associates were seen handing over a bag full of cash at Euston station.

Detectives then discovered a ledger, detailing Adams’ money laundering trail between Manchester and London, leading to a seven-year jail sentence being handed down.

At Croydon crown court yesterday, a judge ordered Adams to repay £1,243,270.75 within the next three months or face an extra seven years being added to his sentence.

Prosecutors had shown in confiscation proceedings how Adams had used the criminal money to fund his lifestyle, including buying properties in London and Cyprus and purchasing a £32,000 car for his daughter.

CPS lawyer Helen Hughes welcomed the confiscation order, saying: “Money lies at the centre of this criminality and today Mr Adams has been ordered to pay over £1.24 million - handing over his dirty money for good or he faces more time in jail.

“If at any point in the future we identify that he has other assets and has benefited to a greater extent, then we will apply to the court to increase the order and make him pay more.

“Criminals like this must be stopped, which is why we work tirelessly to get the highest confiscation orders available, so they can start to repay their debt to society.”

Adams was a leading member of the Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate, alongside brothers Terry and Patsy, which built up a fearsome reputation in the 1980s with suspected links to a string of murders, drugs, and gold bullion theft.

Tommy Adams has previous convictions dating back to the 1970s, including serving a seven-and-a-half year prison term for leading a drugs smuggling operation.

Patsy Adams was jailed for nine years in 2016 for shooting an associate, while Terry Adams narrowly avoided a year-long spell behind bars in February last year in a dispute over a £46,000 legal bill.

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