Man charged with conspiracy to murder after extradition from Switzerland

A man has been charged with conspiracy to murder a cage fighter convicted for his part in planning Britain’s biggest cash robbery.

Stewart Ahearne, 46, of no fixed address, has been charged in connection with the shooting in Malvern Drive, Woodford Green, on July 11 2019, after he was extradited from Switzerland.

The victim, 45, has been left with serious, life-changing injuries as a result of the shooting, the Metropolitan Police said.

The victim was named locally at the time of the shooting as Paul Allen, a cage fighter convicted for his part in planning Britain’s biggest cash robbery.

Allen was jailed for 18 years for his role in the £53 million heist at the Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in February 2006.

Ahearne, who was extradited back to the UK on Thursday, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Wearing a white t-shirt, he spoke to confirm his name and address.

Judge Michael Bisgrove remanded Ahearne into custody and ordered him to appear at a plea and trial preparation hearing at the Old Bailey on April 19.

A second man has also been charged with conspiracy to murder in connection with the same incident.

Daniel Kelly, 46, of no fixed address, is due to appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on March 27.

Allen was the trusted lieutenant of Lee “Lightning” Murray, who masterminded the Securitas heist.

The heist saw a gang, with some posing as police officers, kidnap the manager of the Securitas depot and his family at gunpoint.

Police later recovered £21 million of the missing cash, but the remaining £32 million was never found.

Allen, then a father-of-three, admitted charges of conspiracy to rob, kidnap and possess firearms in relation to the heist at Woolwich Crown Court in September 2009 as a retrial was about to begin.

He pleaded guilty on the basis that he was not one of the robbers who entered the depot, or one of the kidnappers, and that he did not handle any firearms.