Ex crime boss Terry Adams ordered to pay £700,000

A former crime lord must pay a £700,000 debt to the taxpayer after a Court of Appeal judge agreed he has been using a “hidden reserve” of cash to bankroll a luxury lifestyle.

Terry Adams, 62, claimed he was too poor to make the six-figure payment and said nights out at the Dorchester, the Ivy restaurant and the Royal Opera House only showed his wife Ruth’s lavish spending.

But three top judges today ruled Adams has access to large amounts of money and he had failed to explain the source of his family’s income.

Adams could now face four years in prison if he fails to pay back the £700,000, which is outstanding from a confiscation order imposed in 2007 after his conviction for money laundering.

In the ruling, Lord Justice Hamblen, sitting with Lord Justice Longmore and Lord Justice Irwin said a series of loans and payments to Mrs Adams remained “unexplained”.

“The source of all funds obtained and expended by Mrs Adams was of obvious importance but there was no or no satisfactory evidence of that source”, he said.

“Whilst it is correct that much of the evidence related to Mrs Adams rather than Mr Adams, they live and work together and, as the judge found, their financial affairs are ‘intertwined’.”

The former head of the Adams crime syndicate in North London went to the Court of Appeal after Mrs Justice Davies found in 2014 that Adams had not made a “full and candid disclosure” about his wealth.

He claimed he was scraping by on £200-a-week and told the High Court he felt “like a ponce” for having to rely financially on his actress wife and handouts from friends.

However, evidence of spa memberships, private dental treatment and lavish nights out in London undermined his story.

At the Court of Appeal earlier this month, Kennedy Talbot QC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Adams has a “hidden reserve” of money channelled to him through “false loans and bogus employment”.

He told the court it would “bring the justice system into disrepute” if Adams was let off the debt.

However Ivan Krolick, for Adams, argued Mrs Justice Davies had been wrong because she incorrectly treated “luxurious” spending by Mrs Adams as proof of her husband’s wealth.

He said that in reality Mrs Adams, an actress who has appeared in the West End, had her own money, mostly from the sale of the couple’s London home.

“This was not luxurious living by Mr Adams. If it was luxurious, it was by Mrs Adams with her own money”, said Mr Krolick.

Adams was not in court to hear today’s ruling. No order was made for costs.