Museum thieves jailed for cage fighter murder plot

A gang of thieves from London who stole ancient artefacts from a Swiss museum have been jailed for plotting to kill a cage fighter at his luxury home.

Paul Allen, 47, was paralysed after being shot in the neck at his home in Woodford Green, east London, on 11 July 2019. Prosecutors alleged the background to the shooting was that Allen was a “sophisticated” career criminal.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey brothers Louis Ahearne, 36, and Stewart Ahearne, 46, along with Daniel Kelly, 46, were each found guilty of conspiracy to murder.

Earlier, Louis Ahearne was sentenced to 33 years, his older brother Stewart Ahearne for 30 years and Kelly for 36 years plus an extra five years on licence.

“The underlying motive for the shooting remains unknown,” Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC said.

She added that she was satisfied Kelly was the one who pulled the trigger but concluded that a life sentence for Kelly was “not justified”.

During the trial, jurors heard that a month before the shooting the Ahearne brothers and Kelly burgled Chinese Ming Dynasty artefacts from the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva.

Allen was convicted at Woolwich Crown Court in 2009 for his part in Britain’s biggest armed robbery, at Securitas in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006 in which £54m in cash was stolen, much of which has never been recovered.

By 2019, Allen had been released from prison and moved from south London to a large detached property in Woodford, north-east London, where he lived with his partner and young children.

“Whether the motive for that shooting was connected is something we may never know,” Judge Whitehouse added in her remarks.

In July 2019, the trio travelled more than once from their home turf in the Woolwich area of south-east London to Allen’s home in Woodford Green as part of the planning and execution of the murder plot, the court heard.

Jurors were told in the days leading up to the shooting, a tracking device was put on a Mercedes car belonging to Allen.

Unregistered pay-as-you-go phones were used by the defendants to communicate with each other, while a car was rented by Stewart Ahearne. This vehicle was used to follow the Mercedes around east London the day before the shooting.

Prosecutor Michael Shaw KC said it was clear from an examination of the scene of the shooting that the gunmen had positioned themselves at the rear of the property and fired six shots from what appeared to be a Glock 9mm handgun.

The shots had been fired across the back garden of the house in Malvern Drive and passed through the kitchen and conservatory doors, with at least two rounds striking Allen in the hand and throat.

After the shots were fired, neighbours saw between one and three figures running away and getting into a car that made off at speed.

Kelly’s and Louis Ahearne’s DNA was found on a rear garden fence panel close to where five spent bullet casings from the Glock were discovered, the court was told.

A gun sight was found the following month at Kelly’s home in Charlton, jurors heard.

Only Louis Ahearne gave evidence in his defence. He told the court he had become involved in the Geneva museum heist in order to pay off a debt he owed Kelly.

He denied being part of the conspiracy to kill Allen and blamed Kelly as the person who pulled the trigger.

Louis Ahearne told jurors he believed he was there to commit a burglary or robbery of a drug dealer’s house.

In mitigation, Louis Ahearne’s lawyer Avirup Chaudhuri refered to letters from prison staff who describe him as a “model prisoner”.

Chaudhuri added: “He has seen his son once in the last five years. The time he will spend in prison now will be double hard because of the evidence he gave in the trial.

“The position has been made worse by a story in a national newspaper who described him as a ‘marked man’.

“He will be spending in time in prison with one eye over his shoulder.”

It can now be reported that Kelly – who did not attend the sentencing hearing due to ongoing severe back pain – is one of three men wanted by Japanese authorities as part of a landmark extradition request.

In a recent High Court ruling, Japanese authorities accuse Kelly and two others of posing as customers to steal items worth £679,000 (¥106m) from a Harry Winston store on 20 November 2015.

The trio punched and injured a security guard, smashed showcase glass cabinets and seized 46 items – including diamond rings, Japanese police say.

For almost a decade Japanese authorities have pursued the extradition of Kelly, his son Kaine Wright, 28, of Plumstead, and Joe Chappell, 38, from Belvedere.

A judgement is due next month on Chappell and Wright who have had their cases heard in various courts in recent years. Kelly only appeared in court at the end of March over the extradition due to the conspiracy to murder case against him taking precedence.