Cage fighter who was jailed for helping to mastermind £53million armed robbery that was Britain’s biggest cash heist secretly gets away with paying back just £420
- Paul Allen was jailed for helping Securitas depot robbers plan the huge heist
- He was jailed after fleeing to Morocco and later ordered to pay back £1.2million
- But it emerged today he will only hand over £420 after a secret court decision
Paul Allen will only pay back £420 of the £1million-plus he made from the 2006 Securitas depot robbery
A cage fighter who helped the mastermind of Britain’s biggest cash robbery will only pay back £420 of the money he made.
Paul Allen was the trusted lieutenant of Lee Murray, who planned the £53million Securitas depot heist in Tonbridge, Kent in 2006.
The depot manager, his wife and young child were kidnapped to allow the gang to gain entry, and 14 staff members were tied up at gunpoint as the robbers stuffed cash into a 7.5-ton lorry during the 66-minute raid.
Allen, who admitted conspiracy to rob but claimed he was not one of those who took part in the raid, was ordered to pay back £1.2million of £1.9million he made from the heist.
But it emerged today that he has been let off from paying all but £420 of the money after secretly filing for a ‘certificate of inadequacy’.
The decision was made in a closed court and the CPS has refused to comment on the deal struck, London’s Evening Standard reported.
During the heist, depot workers were held at gunpoint and the manager and his family were taken hostage by the gang. Allen admitted his involvement on the basis he did not take part
Allen did not have to serve the extra five-year sentence he was originally ordered to do if he failed to pay, the paper states.
Bob Neill, chairman of the Commons Justice Select Committee, said the decision meant criminals who quickly spent their ill-gotten gains were better off than those who kept hold of it.
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He told the Standard: ‘If someone has blown it all in such a way that there’s no hope of getting it back, the presumption ought to be that the default sentence applies.’
Allen was seen wearing an an £7,000 Rolex and driving a £40,000 Mercedes convertible after he was released six months into the 18-year sentence he was given.
Allen (left) and heist mastermind Lee Murray were caught after fleeing to Morocco
After the hold-up in February 2006, he had fled to Morocco with Murray, a fellow cage fighter.
The pair immediately began enjoying a cocaine-fuelled party lifestyle, buying sumptuously-furnished villas and expensive cars.
Thousands of pounds were also spent on breast enhancement operations in England for wives and girlfriends of the men, according to court documents.
Allen was later caught in Morocco and spent 20 months in the jail before he was brought back to Britain to face trial.
The father-of-three claimed he knew nothing about the robbery and jurors were unable to reach a verdict after a first trial at the Old Bailey.
But he admitted charges of conspiracy to rob, kidnap and possess firearms as a re-trial was due to begin at Woolwich Crown Court.
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 firearm
What was the Securitas robbery?
The 2006 Securitas robbery, hailed ‘Britain’s biggest cash heist’, saw £53million of the Bank of England’s cash piled into the back of a seven-and-a-half tonne lorry.
Two of the robbers, wearing police officer uniforms and prosthetic masks, stopped depot manager Colin Dixon while he was on his way home to Herne Bay in Kent and held him at gunpoint to gain access to the site.
Other members of the criminal gang then took 14 Securitas Cash workers hostage while the money was loaded on the van.
Other robbers, also posing as police officers, kidnapped Mr Dixon’s seven-year-old son and wife from their home and took all three of them to a remote farm, where they were put in cages.
Seven men have been jailed and collective sentences of 100 years handed out for charges including kidnap, firearms offences and robbery.
Some £21million has been recovered by police but the £32million still missing is believed to have been spent or be untraceable
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