3 men sentenced to over a century in prison after plot to kill a ringleader in U.K.’s biggest heist

This undated handout file photos issued by the Metropolitan Police on April 25, 2025 shows from left, Daniel Kelly, Stewart Ahearne and Louis Ahearne, who have been jailed at the Old Bailey for plotting to kill former cagefighter Paul Allen. (Metropolitan Police via AP)

LONDON — Three men who plotted to kill a former cage fighter, who years before had been convicted of being one of the ringleaders in the U.K.’s biggest-ever heist, were sentenced Friday to a collective term of over a century in prison.

Daniel Kelly, 46, and brothers Louis Ahearne, 36, and Stewart Ahearne, 46, were found guilty by a jury last month for conspiracy to murder Paul Allen, then 41, in 2019.

Allen, who was left for dead, was paralyzed from the chest down after being shot at his large home in Woodford Green, northeast London.

‘Promise of financial gain’

Judge Sarah Whitehouse said the three men — who all had criminal backgrounds and were involved in the burglary of a Geneva museum a month before Allen was shot — were “motivated by a promise of financial gain” in their agreement to murder Allen.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged that the background to the shooting was the fact that Allen was a “sophisticated” career criminal. He was convicted in 2009 for his part three years earlier in Britain’s biggest armed robbery at a depot in Kent, southeast England, in which 54 million pounds (US$72 million at current prices) in cash was stolen, much of which has never been recovered.

During their investigation into the shooting, police discovered along with Swiss authorities that the three men were also involved in a burglary at the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva on June 1, 2019.

Three pieces of Ming-era porcelain were taken from the museum, which had a combined insurance value of around $3.6 million. Investigators also uncovered that the defendants flew to Hong Kong later that month, where they tried to sell one of the items they had stolen — a phoenix bowl — at an auction house.

The two brothers were extradited to Switzerland and were convicted in January 2024. Both were subsequently returned to the U.K. to be tried for the shooting of Allen. Kelly is still the subject of an extradition request by Swiss authorities.

Jurors heard how elements of that museum heist echoed with the shooting of Allen, including the use of a Renault Captur hire vehicle.

iPad found in River Thames

The case against the three men was given further impetus with the discovery in Nov. 2024 of an iPad in the River Thames that had been used to track the movements of Allen before he was shot.

“This attack may look like the plot to a Hollywood blockbuster but the reality is something quite different,” said Detective Superintendent Matt Webb of the Metropolitan Police, who led the investigation. “This was horrific criminality.”

Whitehouse sentenced Kelly to 36 years in prison with an extended license period of five years. Louis Ahearne was sentenced to 36 years in prison while Stewart Ahearne was sentenced to 30 years. They will all serve a minimum of two-thirds of their sentences before being eligible for parole.

She said Kelly was the shooter and was “higher up in the chain” of the conspiracy. Apart from the outstanding extradition request from Switzerland, Kelly is also wanted in Japan for a separate alleged robbery.

Written by Pan Pylas, The Associated Press