Three men who shot former cage fighter in his home convicted of conspiracy to murder

THREE men have been convicted of conspiracy to murder after shooting a rival as he stood in his kitchen at home.

Brothers Stewart and Louis Ahearne, of no fixed address, and accomplice Daniel Kelly, who is also of no fixed address, were all found guilty as their trial came to a close at the Old Bailey in London yesterday (March 24).

The jury heard that the three man had shot former cage fighter, Paul Allen at his home in Woodford Green in east London July 11, 2019, after weeks of careful planning.

Stewart Ahearne (Pics: Met Police)

During court proceedings it was revealed that in 2009 Allen was convicted for his part in Britain’s biggest armed robbery at Securitas in Kent, where £54m in cash was stolen, much of which has never been recovered.

He was released from prison in 2019.

The court heard that in their efforts to monitor Allen’s activities, Kelly and the Ahearnes had put a tracking device on his car, which they used an iPad to access.

On the night of the shooting, they travelled from their homes in southeast London to Woodford Green in a car hired two days earlier by 46-year-old Stewart Ahearne.

He waited in the car while Kelly, 46,  and Louis Ahearne, 36, snuck into a garden which overlooked the back garden of their target’s house in Malvern Drive.

Louis Ahearne

At around 11pm, six shots were fired through the back doors and windows of their victim’s house.

At least one of the bullets struck Allen – who was aged 45 at the time – as he stood in the kitchen.

The men then drove away from the scene, leaving him fighting for his life.

Allen was taken to hospital for emergency surgery, which saved his life but has left him permanently paralysed.

It took detectives investigating the incident several weeks to piece together what had happened that night.

Daniel Kelly

Several breakthroughs included DNA evidence linking the men to the weapon used in the shooting and the location where the shots were fired from.

CCTV footage further showed the hire car they were using being driven from their homes in south London to the victim’s home in east London in the days prior to the attack.

Detectives subsequently established that the hire car had been used to commit a burglary at an address in Sevenoaks, Kent the evening before the shooting.

Bullet holes in the kitchen door at the scene of the shooting

Between October 30, 2019 and January 23, 2020, all three men were arrested and charged.

The investigation into the incident has taken years, the Metropolitan Police confirmed this week, with the iPad used to track the victim’s location only being recovered from the River Thames in 2024.

the iPad recovered from the River Thames which was used to track Allen’s movements

During that time the police force was also part of a joint investigation with a police team from Switzerland who were investigating a burglary at the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva a month prior to the shooting.

Items of historical value were stolen from the museum durign the heist, including a high value Ming dynasty vase.

Yesterday the Old Bailey heard that elements of the burglary echoed those of the shooting, and the stolen vase was recovered in London in October 2020.

Stewart and Louis Ahearne were extradited to Switzerland, where they stood trial and were convicted in January 2024 and were sentenced for aggravated theft.

A bullet casing found in the garden of the property where the shooting took place

Both were subsequently returned to the UK on extradition to be tried for the shooting.

Detective Superintendent Matt Webb, who led the investigation into the shooting, described the Ahearne brothers and Kelly as “hardened organised criminals, who acted together in a well-planned and orchestrated manner to shoot their victim”.

“It is only for the intervention of police first responder and medical professionals that the victim wasn’t killed,” he added.

Further damage to the kitchen door from the shooting

“This attack may look like the plot to a Hollywood blockbuster, but the reality is something quite different,” he explained.

“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.”

He added: “Daniel Kelly, Louis and Stewart Ahearne will now undoubtedly face significant custodial sentences, and I hope this time at His Majesty’s pleasure provides them the opportunity to reflect on their criminality and the impact it has on society.”

Kelly and the Ahearnes are due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday, April 25.