Cage fighter gets 18 years for €57m heist

A CAGE fighter who helped plan Britain’s largest ever cash robbery was jailed for 18 years yesterday after admitting his role in the plot.

Paul Allen was the trusted lieutenant of Lee “Lightning” Murray, who masterminded the £53 million (€57.64m) robbery at theSecuritas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

After the hold-up in February 2006, Allen fled to Morocco with Murray, a fellow cage fighter.

The pair began enjoying a cocaine-fuelled party lifestyle in the sun, buying villas and cars.

Thousands of pounds were also spent on breast enhancement operations in England for wives and girlfriends of the men.

After four months they were seized by Moroccan authorities and locked up in the rat-infested Rabat prison.

Allen, an aggressive and powerfully-built, steroid-pumping fitness fanatic, spent 20 months in the jail before he was brought back to Britain to face trial. Thefather-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 Allen, 31, of Chatham, Kent, 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 firearms.

The basis of plea also maintained that he was doing the bidding of Murray and his only benefit was the property in Morocco.

Murray, said to have been the mastermind behind the robbery, will not face British justice.

The 30-year-old, from Sidcup, south east London, claimed nationality in Morocco because his father was born there and authorities in the north African country turned down an extradition request, although he remains in jail.

Murray, a Ferrari-driving martial arts star, masterminded theSecuritas heist five months after he was nearly killed in a knife attack outside a West End party.

Police have recovered £21 million of the cash haul and are still hunting for the rest, with recent inquiries focusing on a country in the Middle East.