Six years for Adams family's informant in CPS

A Crown Prosecution Service official was jailed for six years yesterday for "a grave betrayal of trust", selling information to the "notorious and feared" criminals, the Adams family.

Earlier this month, Mark Herbert had admitted smuggling out copied case files and a list of 33 informers to the gang. Herbert, a CPS administration officer, said he and his fiancée were threatened with death and warned "the Adams family do not mess about".

The Recorder of London, Judge Michael Hyam QC, told Herbert at the Old Bailey: "You put the safety of a number of people at risk. Fortunately, the information did not get to its intended destination because you were under suspicion and arrested. It is not possible to discount greed."

Herbert, 31, of Twickenham, west London, the son of a policemen, had told detectives he received £1,000, and there was evidence he hoped to receive a great deal more.

He was said to be in debt and moonlighting as a nightclub bouncer to boost his £14,000-a-year CPS salary. Police believe he passed the stolen documents through door staff and obtained the money by the same route. Herbert had denied conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.