A member of a crime family who shot an associate he had apparently accused of being a “grass” has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
Patrick Adams, 60, shot and injured Paul Tiernan in Islington, north London, on 22 December 2013.
The pair were longstanding associates who lived by the “same code”, Woolwich crown court heard, and days before the shooting, the victim had complained that Adams had called him a “grass”.
During a search of Adams’s flat in the days after the shooting, police found a handwritten note from Tiernan, 54, which said “I ain’t no fucking grass” and urged his former friend to “face me”.
Adams later fled abroad with his wife, Constance, 56. They were arrested in the Netherlands and extradited on a European arrest warrant last October.
The defendant admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent on Monday. The Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence for a charge of attempted murder.
As he entered the dock on Friday, Adams, wearing a light grey jumper and glasses, nodded towards his family in the public gallery.
Sentencing him, the judge, Christopher Kinch, said: “It was Patrick Adams who chose to make use of the loaded firearm when it was in his hands. That was a momentous decision.
“You are a man who has had some experience with firearms and has some understanding of their power. You took steps to dispose of evidence in this case, including the weapon.
“You also made sustained efforts to evade arrest, leaving the country and seeking refuge in the Netherlands.”