THREE members of a notorious crime family are behind bars after being convicted of plotting to shoot a teenage rival.

Kerry, Charlotte and Thomas Tams have been jailed for a total of more than 15 years after a 19-year-old was shot in the leg during the summer of 2019.

Their associates Barry Lynn, 40, and Leon Haq, 39, were also each sentenced to ten years behind bars following the violent attack in Elswick, Newcastle.

The shooting sparked an investigation by detectives into the family’s violent feud with known criminal Kenneth Thompson. In the early hours of August 7, 2019, police were informed a teenage relative of Thompson had been admitted to hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg.

It later emerged the shooting had taken place just hours after a car belonging to the Tams family had also been damaged by a gunshot.

Officers established the incidents were linked and in the days that followed 12 people were arrested and this Luger-style gun and ammunition pictured was recovered from the River Tyne. Thompson later admitted that he had used that weapon in a drive-by shooting of the car and was jailed for six years last April.

Now Thomas Tams, 60, and his daughters Kerry, 26, and Charlotte, 20, join Thompson behind bars after being convicted of plotting alongside Haq and Lynn to shoot their rival’s teenage relative.

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: "Our detectives have worked incredibly hard to piece together what happened and that has resulted in those responsible being put before the courts.

"Gun crime in our region is thankfully very rare but when it does happen this case shows those involved will be held accountable and put behind bars."