Brothers jailed for plot to kill cagefighter behind UK’s biggest cash robbery

Three men have been jailed at the Old Bailey today for plotting to murder a cage fighter who stole £54million in Britain’s biggest cash robbery.

Paul Allen, 46, was left paralysed from the chest down after he was shot at his home in Woodford, east London, in July 2019.

Allen was a member of a gang that stole millions from the cash depot Securitas in Kent in 2006, most of which has never been recovered.

He had been living in a large, rented house with his partner and three children after being released from an 18-year jail stint over the heist.

Brothers Louis Ahearne, 36, and Stewart Ahearne, 46, alongside Daniel Kelly, 46, have been jailed for 33, 30 and 36 years respectively.

They were found guilty following a trial at the Old Bailey.

A detective said the shooting seemed like it was pulled straight from ‘a Hollywood blockbuster’ but stressed it was plotted by ‘hardened organised criminals’.

‘This was horrific criminality,’ said Detective Superintendent Matt Webb.

The trio travelled from their homes in southeast London in a hired car. Stewart waited in the getaway vehicle as Louis and Kelly snuck into Allen’s back garden.

At about 11.09pm on July 11, six shots were fired – at least one struck Allen as he stood in the kitchen. The men left him for dead.

Bullet casings were found scattered near Allen’s backyard fence. But a muddy, rusted iPad recovered from the River Thames last year proved to be a silver bullet for detectives.

Police found that the tablet, which had a sim card inside, was used to track Allen’s movements by being placed inside the victim’s car.

‘The suspects now knew when and where their target would be,’ the force said, adding that it was later chucked into the Thames.

The shooting, however, was just the latest act of a long list of criminal deeds. Only the day before, Kelly and Louise used a rented car to access a gated community in Kent and burgle a house by pretending to be police officers.

In June, the month before, the trio nabbed nearly £2.8million worth of Ming dynasty antiques from the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva.

Extradited to Switzerland, the brothers stood trial and were convicted in January 2024 before being brought back to Britain to stand trial over the shooting.

Sentencing, judge Sarah Whitehouse KC said: ‘I have no doubt that this agreement to murder Paul Allen involved other people apart from the three of you and that you three were motivated by a promise of financial gain.

‘The culpability of each one of you is very high.

‘The harm caused to the victim was very serious – indeed, short of killing him it could hardly be more serious.

‘He is currently paralysed and relies on others for every single need.’

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