Three men have been jailed for a combined total of 99 years for plotting to murder a member of a gang that carried out Britain’s biggest-ever cash robbery.

Paul Allen, 46, was shot twice as he stood in his kitchen in Woodford, east London, on 11 July 2019.

He was a member of the Securitas heist gang that stole £54m from a cash depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006.

The former cage fighter was living in a large detached rented house with his partner and three young children after being released from an 18-year prison sentence over the raid.

The attack at his home has left him paralysed from the chest down.

Louis Ahearne, 36, Stewart Ahearne, 46, and Daniel Kelly, 46, denied conspiring to murder Allen but were found guilty last month following a trial at the Old Bailey.

The trio were sentenced at the Old Bailey in central London on Friday.

Kelly was sentenced to 36 years in prison and an extra five years on licence, Louis Ahearne was jailed for 33 years, and his sibling Stewart Ahearne – 30 years.

Prosecutors did not give a motive for the murder plot, though they described the victim as a “sophisticated” career criminal.

Detectives said the shooting could seem like “the plot [of] a Hollywood blockbuster” but added it was actually “horrific criminality” from “hardened organised criminals”.

In her sentencing remarks, the judge said she believed the trio “were motivated by a promise of financial gain”.

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.”

The shooting was just the latest act in a long list of criminal deeds. The day before, Kelly and Louise Ahearne used a rented car to carry out a burglary in Kent, accessing the gated community by pretending to be police officers.

A month before that, the trio had stolen more than $3.5m (£2.78m) worth of Ming dynasty antiques from the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva, for which the Ahearne brothers had been jailed in Switzerland.

Kelly is also wanted in Japan over the robbery of a Tokyo jewellery store in 2015 in which a security guard was punched in the face.

A man has been jailed for life for the murder of university lecturer Claire Chick.

Paul Butler was sentenced to a minimum term of 27 years for killing his estranged wife after a six-month campaign of stalking and harassment when he refused to accept their relationship was over.

Ms Chick, 48, was found seriously injured on West Hoe Road in Plymouth just before 9pm on 22 January. She was taken to hospital, but died the next day.

Previously known as Claire Butler, Ms Chick worked at the University of Plymouth.

She died after a frenzied attack outside her home – the attack a culmination of months of harassment, stalking and violence at the hands of Butler.

Following her death, Devon and Cornwall Police made a referral to the police watchdog due to previous contact prior to her death.

Jo Martin KC, prosecuting, said Ms Chick had made six statements to the police about Butler and he had been arrested three times.

In her final statement to police the day before he killed her outside her own home, she said: “I only feel that Butler will kill me if further action is not taken. I am in fear of leaving my house.”

Butler was arrested around 20 miles away in the Liskeard area on 24 January.

He was sentenced on Friday at Plymouth Crown Court, having previously pleaded guilty to murder, and to one charge of possession of a bladed article.

‘I loved Claire’

The family of Ms Chick told the court how her murder left a “huge void” in their lives.

Her eldest daughter, Bethany Hancock-Baxter, described Butler as “evil”.

She said: “I want this evil man to listen to me. I want you to know what you have done to us as a family.

“Despite all the hate I have for you, I cannot bring myself to do what you did to my mum – that’s because I am not evil like you.”

Her sister, Lydia Peers, said Butler was a “parasite”.

After her short-lived marriage to Butler, Ms Chick began a relationship with another man, Paul Maxwell.

Mr Maxwell spoke from the witness box and repeatedly stared at the defendant as he spoke. Butler stared back at him.

“I loved Claire. She was beautiful, funny and kind,” Mr Maxwell said.

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A mum has been sentenced for killing her six-year-old son after hearing “demonic voices”.

Karolina Zurawska, 42, previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility of Alexander Zurawski.

Alexander was found dead at a property in the Gendros area of Swansea on 29 August last year.

His mother was found next to him with a handsaw at her side.

At Swansea Crown Court on Friday, Zurawska was also sentenced for the attempted murder of her 67-year-old father, Krzysztof Siwi, earlier the same day.

She was handed an indefinite hospital order.

The manslaughter charge was accepted by the prosecution, with three psychiatric experts concluding Zurawska had been suffering from a “psychotic episode” at the time.

It affected her mental state so greatly that she was unable to understand what she was doing, the court heard.

Judge Paul Thomas KC told her there was “strong and compelling evidence” she was acting in an “uncharacteristic manner”, but no one could have foreseen what would happen before that day.

Zurawska had hugged her father, told him she loved him, before “launching three attacks on him” intending to kill him, the judge said.

The court heard Zurawska had previously been the “best mother” to her son, who was recovering from a brain tumour which left him partially sighted and requiring a cane to walk.

The judge said he did not believe harming Alexander would have entered the defendant’s mind if she had not been mentally unwell.

“You were suffering from the delusion of hearing voices, you believe that you were being instructed by a demonic force,” he said.

“You are not a wicked mother, far from it.”

He said he “entirely agreed” with the psychiatrists that Zurawska needed indefinite hospital treatment.

The judge added: “I cannot end without mentioning Alexander, his all too brief life was one of bravely battling medical issues.

“It was a life filled with love. I know that those that knew him well will never forget him, nor ever stop loving him.”

In a tribute released after his death, Alexander’s family said he was a “very kind child” who was “very clever and very mature for his age”.

“Alexander was always well behaved and never naughty,” the statement added.

“He was amazing.”