Paul ‘Boom Boom’ Cahoon says he wasn’t allowed outside for three months and repeatedly assaulted while in prison in the Middle East
Mixed martial arts expert Paul Cahoon(Image: Trinity Mirror Copyright)
Former cage fighter Paul “Boom Boom” Cahoon spent nearly a decade on the run in Dubai as one of Merseyside’s most wanted men before he was caught after suffering a brain injury. A “senior figure” in a gang which trafficked tens of thousands of pounds worth of cocaine and amphetamine between Liverpool and South Wales, he then spent more than a year in custody in the Middle East before his extradition back to the UK.
During his time on remand, the now 47-year-old claims he was not allowed outside for three months, repeatedly assaulted and forced to sleep on the floor. Cahoon says he was “humbled” by the “traumatic experience” and claims that he “couldn’t wait to see” the police officers who returned him home to face justice
He had faced a jury at Liverpool Crown Court after being accused of conspiracy to supply cocaine and amphetamine, but changed his plea to guilty during the second day of his trial on Wednesday this week. He returned to the same court to be sentenced yesterday.
Stephen McNally, prosecuting, told a jury of six men and six women on Tuesday that Cahoon “had some notoriety” due to his “successful mixed martial arts competing career”, during which he went by the nickname “Boom Boom”. The court heard that he was linked to hauls of illicit class A and B substances worth up to £83,000 via meetings and mobile phone contact with supposed co-conspirators.
One of these came on the evening of January 27 2015, when a Ford Transit van was stopped by police on Lunt’s Heath Road in Widnes. Driver Michael Challoner was described by officers as being “extremely nervous” and “stuttering his words” at this time, with his hands seen “shaking”.
The vehicle was initially seized due to him having no insurance but, when subsequently searched, it was found to contain a package of 248 grams of cocaine, worth between £7,440 and £25,000, concealed behind a wooden panel between the cab and the rear. This parcel was also found to contain the DNA of a second man, Adam Parkes, who Cahoon had visited at his home address earlier on the same date.
The following day, January 28, the defendant had a face to face meeting with Parkes and a third male, James Bush. This was said to be a “debrief based on the fact the drugs had been intercepted by police”.
Then, on April 27 the same year, PCs intercepted a Renault Megane near to junction 36 of the M4 motorway as it was being driven from Liverpool to South Wales by Carl Currie. This led to the seizure of 20kg of amphetamine, class B drugs with a potential street value of between £20,000 and £40,000.
This contraband was found inside a “bespoke hide”, which had been created by cutting a hole between the boot and rear passenger seats. The car was said to have been bound for the town of Maesteg and the home of Andrew Rogers, who later contacted Cahoon in an apparent effort to obtain “information about where his drugs are”.
A further 2kg of amphetamine and a small quantity of cannabis were subsequently discovered during a search of Currie’s home. Investigators ultimately identified another 12 occasions on which conspirators made journeys from Merseyside to South Wales, as well as two in the reverse direction.
Cahoon would then leave the UK on May 10 2015, living in the Middle East until his extradition last summer. A third seizure of drugs then followed late on the night of May 13, when Peter McCaffrey’s Subaru estate car was stopped on Crosby Road South following a journey from South Wales.
Nine kilos of amphetamine were found inside a drawstring bag in the footwell of the vehicle. Nearly £25,000 in cash and close to half a kilogram of cannabis were also recovered from his home in Seaforth.
Challoner previously admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply, while Parkes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine. Bush admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine and amphetamine, while Currie and McCaffery pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply amphetamine and Rogers was convicted of the same offence after a trial.
Mr McNally told the court that Cahoon had used nine different phone numbers during a six-month period around this time and said: “The prosecution case is that Paul Cahoon was a senior figure within these conspiracies. We say that Mr Cahoon had other people carrying out tasks on his instructions and that, by the way he acted, it was obvious that he was alive to the risk of detection and that he took steps to avoid it.
“The prosecution say that he was chopping and changing his telephone numbers in order to make it harder for any investigation to identify who he was in contact with, when he was in contact with them and who was in contact with him. That poses a question. Why would Mr Cahoon want to conceal his telephone contact? The prosecution’s case is, because it related to conspiracies to supply drugs.
“The defendant’s case on the other hand, as we understand it, is that, back in 2015, he was a figure of some local notoriety in certain circles because he was a well-known mixed martial arts competitor. The defendant says that these people he was in communication with were friends and associates of his.
“He says that the contact was nothing to do with the conspiracies, it was innocent contact with his friends and associates and did not relate to drugs supply. It might relate, for example, to them simply being friends of his or to mixed martial arts training or the recovery of debts, as his name and reputation would provide an incentive to get debts paid.”
But Mr McNally said that Cahoon’s phone activity had come “at key times” and “relevant stages” in the conspiracy. He added: “The prosecution’s case is it is simply too much of a coincidence that there is the level and timing of contact by Mr Cahoon than it is anything other than an indication that he was involved in the conspiracies.”
Addressing the court during Cahoon’s sentencing hearing on Friday, the prosecution counsel described his role in the supply of cocaine as one of a “conduit, using his contacts to facilitate connections between parties” and “organising and conducting” a handover. He was meanwhile said to have been involved in the “inception” of a partnership with criminal contacts in Wales, which saw a conspirators embark upon a string of trips south from Merseyside concerning the supply of amphetamine.
Mr McNally added of his subsequent move to Dubai: “At the very least, the trip was influenced by events in the UK. It is not the sole reason for his departure, but certainly a factor in it.”
Cahoon was ultimately arrested on August 23 2023 and spent 374 days in custody abroad before his extradition. Abigail Bache, defending, said on his behalf: “He is a man effectively of good character with some old, unrelated matters when he was 18.
“These offences are nine years old. In circumstances where a defendant has deliberately evaded justice, that would offer very little mitigation. But that is not the case here.
Paul Richard Cahoon
“Mr Cahoon left the UK as a result of a pre-planned job offer to work at a gym in Dubai. There is no evidence that the police were looking for Mr Cahoon or that there was an arrest warrant in place. His decision to leave, we say, was nothing to do with evading justice. He was not aware that such a warrant was in place for him.
“The reason that the defendant came to the attention of the authorities was not because he had any difficulties in Dubai, but because he was brought into hospital having been the victim of a very severe attack which left him with a brain injury. It has left him with significant difficulties to overcome.
“Despite that injury, it is quite clear that he has been using his time since to try to better himself. While he has been in the UK, he has been a model prisoner working in the gym. He has also been working with vulnerable inmates.
“There will be a level of maturity which was not present in 2015. There were no issues with the police in Dubai, and he appears to have been working perfectly legitimately at the gym.”
Ms Bache also said of her client’s time in custody in Dubai: “It is right to say that his time there was far more arduous than it would have been if it was 12 months on remand in the UK. They were only allowed outside once a week for fresh air. There was a three-month period where he was not allowed outside at all.
“They were given no entertainment, no books and nothing to keep them busy. In his view, it was designed to psychotically break people.
“There was nothing to sleep on other than the floor. It was a difficult time. He was also the victim of a number of assaults while he was in custody there.”
Cahoon himself penned a letter to the judge which was read to the court by his counsel. He said in this note that he had “made mistakes” after his gym in St Helens closed down in 2014.
Following his move away from the UK, he said he had helped to make the gym in Dubai the “most successful MMA school” in the country while working as a professional coach. Cahoon meanwhile said his time in prison abroad was a “traumatic experience”, with there allegedly being “no human rights” in the jail.
He added: “Prisoners were subjected to emotional and physical abuse. The experience can never be forgotten. It will stay with me forever. It has humbled me and changed me. I couldn’t wait to see the faces of the UK extradition officers.”
Cahoon, who wore a light grey jumper over a white shirt and tie in the dock and sported short grey hair and a beard, was sentenced to a total of nine years and three months. Sentencing, Judge Robert Trevor Jones said: “Effectively, you were a conduit so far as cocaine is concerned, putting people in touch with each other. As for count two, you were quite clearly a leading player.
“I am urged to take into account the delay. It may well be that you had a pre-planned job offer and went to take that up, but there is no doubt that you would have known what happened back here.
“The whole operation was intercepted and brought down. They faced the music, but you stayed put and decided that you would avoid doing that until the situation forced you into being extradited.”
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Worthington, from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit’s operations Team, said following today’s sentencing: “Paul Cahoon’s sentencing is a testament to the relentless efforts of my investigation team and the invaluable support of the Crown Prosecution Service and prosecution counsel. Despite his attempts to evade justice for nearly a decade, we remained committed to tracking him down and dismantling the drug trafficking network he was a part of.
“This case highlights our unwavering dedication to protecting our communities from the scourge of illegal drugs. We hope this serves as a warning to others involved in such activities that we will not rest until they are brought to justice.”