Three men found guilty of plotting to murder £54m Securitas robber Paul Allen
Three men have been found guilty of plotting to murder a member of the Securitas heist gang that stole £54m in Britain’s biggest-ever cash robbery.
Paul Allen, 46, was left paralysed from the chest down after he was shot twice as he stood in the kitchen of his home in Woodford, east London, on 11 July 2019.
The former cage fighter lived in the large detached rented house with his partner and three young children after being released from an 18-year prison sentence over the 2006 raid of a cash depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
Staff held at gunpoint. Pic: PA
Much of the £54m loaded into a 7.5-tonne lorry – after the gang kidnapped the Securitas manager and his family and tied up staff at gunpoint – has never been recovered.
After the robbery, Allen fled to Morocco with his friend and heist mastermind Lee Murray, a former cage fighter, before being extradited back to the UK.
Stewart Ahearne, Louis Ahearne, Daniel Kelly. Pics: Met Police/Kent Police/PA
Attack likened Hollywood blockbuster
Louis Ahearne, 36, his brother Stewart Ahearne, 46, and Daniel Kelly, 46, denied conspiring to murder him between 26 June and 12 July 2019 but were found guilty after an Old Bailey trial.
Prosecutors said the background to the shooting was that Allen – who did not give evidence in the trial – was a “sophisticated” career criminal, but did not suggest a motive for the murder plot.
Metropolitan Police detective superintendent Matt Webb described the Ahearnes and Kelly as “hardened organised criminals”, who “acted together in a well-planned and orchestrated manner to shoot their victim”.
“This attack may look like the plot to a Hollywood blockbuster but the reality is something quite different,” he said.
“This was horrific criminality. The court heard how this was a clear and defined attempt to take a man’s life with those responsible making significant efforts to ensure this was successful.”
Paul Allen was in the kitchen when he was shot. Pic: Met Police
Swiss museum heist
The month before the shooting, the Ahearne brothers and Kelly carried out a heist of the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva, where they stole more than $3.5m (£2.78m) worth of Ming dynasty antiques, the court heard.
They flew to Hong Kong, where they sold a porcelain bowl at an auction house before the Ming vase was recovered by an undercover officer posing as a buyer at a central London hotel.
The Ahearne brothers were jailed in Switzerland over the raid, while three men, including ex-West Ham academy footballer Kaine Wright were jailed in the UK over their roles in the plot to sell the £2m antique.
Gang stole Chinese Ming Dynasty vase. Pic: Met Police/PA
A cup stolen from a Geneva museum. Pic: Met Police/PA
Wright and Kelly are also wanted in Japan over the robbery of a Tokyo jewellery store in 2015 in which a security guard was punched in the face.
They and another man are alleged to have posed as customers before smashing the glass showcases and stealing jewellery valued at 106,272,000 yen – about £630,000, according to details revealed in a lengthy extradition battle.
The day before Mr Allen’s shooting, Kelly and Louis Ahearne used a Renault Captur rented by Stewart Ahearne in a burglary on a gated community in Kent, the court heard.
The pair, along with another man, posed as police officers, even fixing a blue flashing light to the car, to gain access to the grounds, then broke into an apartment to steal money, handbags and designer trainers.
They were each sentenced to five years in jail for the crime in 2020.
The same rented vehicle used was used as the “mission car” as the Ahearne brothers and Kelly travelled from their home turf in Woolwich, southeast London, prosecutors said.
The court heard they had fitted a tracking device to Allen’s family Mercedes to follow his movements.
Paul Allen rented a home in east London. Pic: PA
A bullet casing found in the back garden. Pic: Met Police
‘He’s been shot’
He was stood in the kitchen just after 11pm as at least six bullets were fired from a Glock handgun from the fence line of his back garden, two of which hit him in the hand and throat.
His partner Jade Bovingdon, was heard screaming, “He’s been shot, he’s been shot.”
A private security guard provided first aid and armed police took over before paramedics arrived.
Allen was taken to hospital for emergency treatment and underwent an operation to remove a bullet lodged in his spinal cord. He now uses a wheelchair.
Five shell casings were recovered close to a summer house, while DNA on swabs taken from a nearby fence panel was matched to Kelly and Louis Ahearne, jurors were told.
The Ahearne brothers made no comment when they were arrested but Kelly said in a prepared statement he had only heard about the shooting of Allen three days later.
“Upon release, I would even like to see how he is,” he said. “I have got no issues with him; I’ve known him for 25 years, and we have been friends the whole time.”
Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.
It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.
However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.
Captain Virgil van Dijk (centre) celebrates. Pic: Reuters
Salah on his knees in celebration after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott (below) and Jarell Quansah celebrate after full-time. Pic: PA
Slot cheers after the full-time whistle. Pic: AP
In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.
The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.
But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.
“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”
Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas poses with a Premier League trophy cut out. Pic: Reuters
Manager Arne Slot and his team after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.
He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”
Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.
Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.
Mohamed Salah takes a selfie with fans after scouring the fourth Liverpool goal. Pic: AP
Fans at Anfield during the game. Pic: AP
Fans in the stands at Anfield before full-time. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.
It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.
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Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
Read more:
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Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform
Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
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