'I was a criminal living in a tent in the woods... now I run a £5m law firm'

Adam Pope lay alone in his tent in a cold, dark wood. He knew another sleepless night awaited him.

As he curled up in his sleeping bag, he listened intently to the sounds on the other side of the fabric. Even the slightest snap of a twig filled him with fear. He had no idea what lurked out there in the darkness.

Staring up at the tent ceiling, Adam wondered how his life had come to this. He had been raised by a loving family who did everything they could to keep him on the right path.

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But Adam knew he was the type of kid your parents warned you to stay away from. Whether it be joyriding cars or holding illegal raves, the rebel was no stranger to trouble.

Adam, who grew up in the Lostock area of Bolton, found himself in hot water with police many times during his adolescence. He once almost faced jail after being caught driving whilst disqualified several times.

“I was on a self-destructive trail,” Adam, now 43, told the Manchester Evening News. “I’ve always been a nice person – I was never a bad person – I just never knew why I was going down this path or what the cause was.

“I came from a good background; my parents are still together. It’s not like I came from a broken home.”

Adam says his parents eventually became so sick of his behaviour they asked him to leave. Adam, who was 20 at the time, then sofa surfed until his friends’ parents were also unable to cope with him.

That’s when he found himself homeless. Sleeping on the streets, park benches or the garden of his family home, it’s a nightmare he endured for six long months.

“I walked the streets at night just to pass the time,” he added. “By the end of the night, I would have walked 20 miles instead of going to sleep. I would just walk and walk and walk.

“There was an element of safety. I was paranoid about staying in the same place for any length of time. I would sleep in the back garden of my mum and dad’s house and leave before they woke up.

“I would rarely stay in the same place every night. It became challenging.”

Fearing for his safety on the streets, Adam decided to steal a tent from his parent’s garage and sleep in a local woodland.

Despite his homelessness, Adam continued to attend college to finish his business course. Word eventually got out about his rough sleeping and his lecturer confronted him about it during a lesson.

“I had gone to college and I wasn’t far from finishing,” he said. “I got there and one of my tutors went, ‘I heard you’re sleeping in a tent in the woods’.

“I got back from college and the very few belongings I had left had been stolen along with my assignments that were due in a few weeks. I couldn’t finish college.”

Adam can recall how terrifying it was sleeping rough “All sorts goes through your mind,” he said. “When you’re sleeping in the woods, there are all sorts of characters about.

“It was the winter and it was freezing. Anything and everything would freak you out. You could hear shuffling about and you would think, ‘What was that?’ and quickly get back in your tent.

“Sleeping was never a thing. You couldn’t switch off properly. But I knew I was better off in the tent compared to some of the other places I was in.”

Adam’s grandma eventually found out about his predicament and invited him to stay with him. He tried to get things back on track, even managing to find employment, but was fired from every job over poor punctuality and other issues.

He eventually started working at his father’s business as a tea boy – a humble role that finally made him realise he wanted more out of life.

At the age of 27, Adam started a financial services dispute company before going on to launch Spencer Churchill five years later, a law firm based in Bolton. The company specialises in corporate law, commercial mediation, dispute resolution, employment law, real estate, intellectual property and private client services. Incredibly, the business now turns over £5m.

Although the business is already hugely successful, Adam has no intention of slowing down – aiming to scale the firm even further in both revenue and size.

But the entrepreneur says he probably wouldn’t be in his position today if it weren’t for the hardships he’s had to overcome in life. “It’s not where you started, it’s where you finish,” he added. “I’ve had a very difficult early few years. It would have ruined a lot of people.”