Three individuals from south-east London have been convicted of conspiring to murder a cage fighter who was shot in his kitchen, in connection with their burglary of a museum in Switzerland.
Paul Allen, 47, suffered paralysis when he was shot in the neck at his residence in Woodford Green, east London, on July 11, 2019. Prosecutors contended that the shooting arose from Allen’s background as a “sophisticated” career criminal.
After a five-week trial at the Old Bailey, Daniel Kelly, aged 46, along with siblings Louis and Stewart Ahearne, was found guilty of murder conspiracy.
During the proceedings, the jury learned that just a month prior to the shooting, the Ahearne brothers and Kelly had stolen Chinese Ming Dynasty artifacts from the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva.
Previously, Allen had been convicted in 2009 at Woolwich Crown Court for his role in what was then Britain’s largest armed robbery at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent, where £54 million in cash was taken, much of which remains unaccounted for.
By 2019, Allen had served his sentence and relocated from south London to a spacious detached house in Woodford, north-east London, where he resided with his partner and young children.
A jury at the Old Bailey was informed of the trio’s intent to murder Allen, with the prosecutor, Michael Shaw KC, stating that the attackers “almost succeeded.”
“This was an assassination attempt that was thoroughly planned and executed by a group of individuals with considerable criminal expertise,” Shaw said.
Evidence presented during the trial highlighted the defendants’ prior criminal activities related to the museum burglary in Geneva.
Stewart Ahearne, 46, was responsible for renting the vehicle used in the burglary, while his brother Louis, 36, conducted reconnaissance by filming inside and outside the museum, the court was informed.
On June 1, 2019, the trio used power tools, dressed in black, to steal items valued at a total of £2.8 million, as stated in court.
Following the burglary, they attempted to dispose of the stolen artifacts, with all three traveling to Hong Kong to sell one item at an auction house.
In November 2023, the brothers were extradited from the UK to Switzerland, where they admitted their involvement in breaking into the museum and were sentenced for aggravated theft by a Swiss court in January.
Although Kelly was not charged in Switzerland, the Old Bailey acknowledged his participation in the burglary.
Prosecutors argued that this international theft demonstrated that the Ahearne brothers and Kelly were at the higher echelons of criminal activity and equally involved in the conspiracy to murder Allen.
The court heard that in July 2019, the trio made several journeys from their base in the Woolwich area of south-east London to Allen’s home in Woodford Green as part of their murder plot planning and execution.
In the days leading up to the shooting, a tracking device was placed on Allen’s Mercedes.
The defendants communicated using unregistered pay-as-you-go phones, and Stewart Ahearne rented a vehicle that was used to trail the Mercedes the day before the attack.
Prosecutor Michael Shaw asserted that evidence from the shooting scene indicated that the assailants had strategically positioned themselves at the back of Allen’s property, firing six rounds from what appeared to be a Glock 9mm.
The shots traversed the back garden and entered through the kitchen and conservatory doors, injuring Allen in the hand and throat.
After the shooting, witnesses reported seeing one to three individuals fleeing and entering a car that sped away.
DNA from Kelly and Louis Ahearne was discovered on a rear garden fence panel near the location of five spent bullet casings from the Glock.
A gun sight was found at Kelly’s residence in Charlton the following month, as the court heard.
Only Louis Ahearne chose to testify in his defense, claiming his involvement in the Geneva museum theft was to pay off a debt to Kelly. He denied involvement in the conspiracy to kill Allen, asserting he believed he was participating in a burglary or robbery at a drug dealer’s home on the day of the shooting.
Louis Ahearne, from Greenwich, south-east London; Stewart Ahearne, who had no permanent address; and Daniel Kelly, also without permanent residence, have been remanded in custody, with sentencing scheduled at the Old Bailey for April 25.
Upon the announcement of the verdicts, Stewart Ahearne yelled at the jury, stating, “You are only human, that’s all I have to say about that.”
Additional reporting by PA Media.
The post Headline: London Criminals Convicted in Sinister Plot to Murder Cage Fighter Following Daring Museum Heist in Switzerland first appeared on London.
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Author : London News
Publish date : 2025-03-24 16:08:00
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