Museum burglars guilty of cage fighter murder plot

Louis Ahearne, Daniel Kelly and Stewart Ahearne were found guilty following a trial at the Old Bailey and will be sentenced on 25 April

Three men from south-east London who burgled a museum in Switzerland have been found guilty of a plot to murder a cage fighter who was shot in his kitchen.

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 five-week trial at the Old Bailey, Daniel Kelly, 46, and brothers Louis and Stewart Ahearne were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.

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.

'Assassination attempt'

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.

A jury at the Old Bailey was told the trio's intention was to kill Allen, and the attackers "very nearly succeeded".

Allen was struck by at least two rounds while standing in his kitchen

"This was a meticulously researched and planned assassination attempt by a team of men well versed in the level of criminality to pull it off," prosecutor Michael Shaw KC said.

Jurors heard agreed facts about the defendants' "previous criminality" relating to the burglary at museum in Geneva.

Stewart Ahearne, 46, hired the car used in the raid while Louis Ahearne, 36, carried out reconnaissance filming on his mobile inside and outside the museum, jurors were told.

Using power tools while dressed in black, the three seized items on 1 June 2019 which had a combined insurance value of £2.8m, the court heard.

Efforts were then made to dispose of the stolen goods, with all three flying to Hong Kong to try to sell one item at an auction house.

Tracking device

The brothers were extradited to Switzerland from the UK in November 2023. They admitted breaking into the museum and were sentenced by a Swiss court last January for aggravated theft.

Although Kelly was not charged by the Swiss authorities, the Old Bailey heard it was accepted he took part in the raid.

Prosecutors argued that the international burglary proved the Ahearne brothers and Kelly were "at the top end" of criminality and that they were equally culpable in the conspiracy to murder Allen.

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 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.

Five spent bullet casings were found by police

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 said he believed he was there to commit a burglary or robbery of a drug dealer's house on the day of the shooting.

Ahearne, from Greenwich, south-east London; Stewart Ahearne, of no fixed address, and Daniel Kelly, of no fixed address, were remanded into custody ahead of a sentencing at the Old Bailey on 25 April.

On hearing the verdicts, Stewart Ahearne shouted at the jury: "You are only human, that's all I have to say about that."

Additional reporting by PA Media.