daughter, but Adams suggested it would be best to sell the house and then give money to whomever she wanted, and that is what she did. Adams ultimately received ?661. While Adams attended Bradnum, he was frequently seen holding her hand and chatting to her on one knee. The day before Mrs. Bradnum died, she had been doing housework and going for walks. The next morning she woke up feeling sick. Adams was called. He gave her an injection and stated, 'It will be over in three minutes.” It was. Adams then confirmed, 'I'm afraid she's gone,' and left the room.
Mrs. Bradnum was exhumed on December 21, 1956. Adams had written on the death certificate that she had died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Dr. Francis Camps examined her brain, however, and excluded this likelihood. The rest of the body, unfortunately, was not in good enough condition to ascertain the real cause of death. Furthermore, it was noticed that Adams, the executor, had put a plate on Bradnum's coffin stating that she had died on May 27, 1952. This was the date her body was interred.
November 22, 1952 – Julia Thomas, seventy-two, was being treated by Adams (she called him 'Bobbums') for depression after her cat died in early November. On the 19, Adams gave her sedatives so she would feel 'better for it in the morning.” The next day, after more tablets, she went into a coma. On the 21 he told Thomas' cook, 'Mrs. Thomas has promised me her typewriter, I'll take it now.” She died at 3 am the next morning.
January 15, 1953 – Hilda Neil Miller, eighty-six, died in a guesthouse where she lived with her sister, Clara. They had not been receiving their mail for several months previously, and were cut off from their relatives. When Hilda's long-standing friend, Dolly Wallis, asked Adams about her health, he answered her with medical terms she 'did not understand.” While visiting Hilda, Adams was seen by her nurse, Phyllis Owen, to pick up articles in the room, examine them, and slip them in his pocket. Adams arranged Hilda's funeral and burial site himself.
February 22, 1954 – Clara Neil Miller died at age eighty-seven. Adams often locked the door when he saw her for up to twenty minutes at a time. When Dolly Wallis asked about this, Clara said he was assisting her in 'personal matters” – pinning on brooches, adjusting her dress. His fat hands were 'comforting' to her. She also appeared to be under the control of drugs. Early that February, the coldest for many years, Adams had sat with her in her room for forty minutes. A nurse entered unnoticed and saw Clara's 'bed clothes all off and over the foot rail of the bed, her night gown up around her chest, and the window in the room open top and bottom while Adams read to her from the Bible. When later confronted by Detective Hannam regarding this, Adams said, 'The person who told you that doesn't know why I did it.”
Clara willed Adams ?1,275 and he charged her estate a further ?700 after her death. He was the sole executor of her will. Her funeral was arranged by Adams and only he and Annie Sharpe, the guesthouse owner, were present. She received ?200 in Clara's will; Adams tipped the minister a guinea after the ceremony. Clara was one of the two bodies exhumed during the police investigation on December 21, 1956. Dr. Francis Camps concluded that she had suffered from bronchopneumonia, probably brought about by high drug doses, not a heart problem, as Adams had said on the death certificate. According to prescription records, Adams had not prescribed anything to treat the bronchopneumonia.
May 30, 1955 – James Downs, brother-in-law of Amy Ware (see above), died at the age of eighty-eight. He had entered a nursing home with a broken ankle four months earlier. Adams treated him with a sedative containing morphine which made him absentminded. On April 7, Adams gave his nurse, Sister Miller, a tablet to give to Downs to make him more alert. Two hours later, a solicitor arrived for Downs to amend his will. Adams told the solicitor that he was to be made a beneficiary to inherit ?1000. The solicitor amended the will and returned two hours later with another doctor, Dr. Barkworth, who confirmed the patient to be alert. Dr. Barkworth was paid three guineas for his time. Nurse Miller later told police that she had heard Adams earlier in April tell the 'senile' Mr. Downs, 'Now look Jimmy, you promised me you would look after me and I see you haven't even mentioned me in your will. I have never charged you a fee.” Downs died after a thirty-six-hour coma, twelve hours after Adams's last visit. Adams charged his estate ?216 for his services and signed Downs' cremation form, stating he had 'no financial interest in the death of the deceased.”
March 14, 1956 – Dr. Alfred John Hullett died at only seventy-one. He was the husband of Gertrude Hullett. Shortly after his death, Adams went to a Chemist to get a 10cc hypodermic morphine solution in the name of Mr. Hullett containing five grains of morphine, asking for the prescription to be backdated to the previous day. The police alleged this was to cover morphine Adams had given him from his own private supplies. Dr. Hullett also left Adams ?500 in his will.
November 15, 1956 – Annie Sharpe, owner of the guesthouse where the Neil Millers’ had died, and consequently a major witness, died suddenly of carcinomatosis of the peritoneal cavity while detectives Hannam and Hewett were in London conducting their investigation. Adams had diagnosed her with cancer just five days earlier, and had given her a prescription for hyperduric morphine and thirty-six Pethidine tablets. The police were very frustrated. They’d had two chances to interview Sharpe, and Hannam and Hewett felt she had been about to reveal information. She was cremated quickly, precluding an investigation into her death. Detective Hannam also revealed that four members of Adams' household staff had been given morphine, heroin, or Pethidine by Adams in prescription form. Adams obtained these on the National Health Service, leading the detectives to conclude that he was merely using their names and keeping the drugs for his own supplies an act of fraud.
In the aftermath of the trial, Adams resigned from the National Health Service and was convicted in Lewes Crown Court on July 26, 1957, on eight counts of forging prescriptions, four counts of making false statements on cremation forms, and three offences under the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1951; he was fined ?2,400 plus costs of ?457. His license to prescribe dangerous drugs was revoked on September 4 and on November 27 he was removed from the Medical Register by the GMC. Adams continued to see some of his more steadfast patients, prescribing over the counter medicine to them.
Preceding the trial, Percy Hoskins, chief crime reporter for the Daily Express, whisked Adams off to a safe house where he spent the next two weeks relating his life story. Hoskins had befriended Adams during the trial and was the only major journalist to disbelief his guilt. Adams was paid ?10,000 for the interview, though he never spent the proceeds; the money was found in a bank vault after his death. Adams then successfully sued several newspapers for libel. He returned to Eastbourne where he continued to practice privately regardless of the common belief in the town that he had murdered people. This belief was not shared by his friends and patients in general. One exception was Roland Gwynne, who distanced himself considerably from Adams after the trial.
Dr. Adams was given back his license as a General Practitioner on November 22, 1961, after two failed applications; his ability to prescribe dangerous drugs was restored the following July. In August of 1962, Adams applied for a visa to America but was refused because of his dangerous drug convictions.
Adams slipped and fractured his hip on June 30, 1983 while shooting in Battle, East Sussex. He was taken to Eastbourne hospital but developed a chest infection and died on July 4 of left ventricular failure.
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