Read ill criminal made a recovery (7)
I believe the answer is:
rallied
'made a recovery' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'read ill criminal' is the wordplay.
'criminal' is an anagram indicator.
'read'+'ill'='readill'
'readill' is an anagram of 'RALLIED'.
(Other definitions for rallied that I've seen before include "Made a recovery" , "bounced back" , "(Of shares) increased in value after a fall" , "Recovered in health" , "Got better" .)