Former Olympic boxer who helped create domestic black market after racking up £25,000 gambling debts has avoided jail

A FORMER England baseball boxer has escaped from prison after helping to orchestrate a nationwide black market fraud involving the theft of telecommunications equipment that is estimated to have cost BT almost £400,000.

Former professional lightweight Antonio Counihan, 33, broke into Openreach vans to steal fibre optic installation kit. He had previously been a cable fitter but his boxing career had fallen apart and he had been left with gambling debts of £25,000.

6

6

6

Counihan and his accomplice used high-visibility vests and hard hats to pose as workers at BT’s secure currency exchange points, before climbing onto the roofs of vans and using cutting equipment to “rip off” the roofs.

They also used their telecommunications knowledge to identify the most valuable items in the vehicles before they looted them.

The stolen equipment was then secured by a dishonest entrepreneur who used his fibre optics business as a front to sell it.

Counihan, from Sollihull, near Birmingham, who won 66 of 80 amateur fights before boxing for England more than 20 times, was arrested after police attributed 34 thefts to the gang, which took place in eight counties over a nine-month period from May 2019 to January 2020.

The total value of the stolen equipment was £113,192 and the damage to the vans was £149,561.

BT estimated the fraud cost it £390,627, including lost profits caused by the thefts.

In two incidents, three Openreach vans were attacked in one night.

At Warwick Crown Court, Counihan’s father faced sentencing guidelines where he was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, after a judge heard the “heartbreaking” end to his promising boxing career when he underwent tests for brain cancer.

Details of the case emerged this week in the Court of Appeal, where three judges dismissed the Attorney General’s submissions that the suspended sentence imposed on Counihan was “unduly lenient”.

Three other men who were also given suspended sentences for their roles in the criminal enterprise also had their appeals against their convictions dismissed.

Counihan joined Team GB in 2009 and served as captain for a period, but turned professional after narrowly losing the 2012 London Olympics.

He was signed to a contract by boxing manager Kelly Maloney, then known as Frank, but his career began to decline when a “shadow” was discovered on his brain.

He was unable to box for three years and underwent a series of tests before doctors discovered the shadow was actually a birthmark.

The thefts began in 2019 after Counihan got a job as a cable fitter for a fibre optic subcontractor run by Michael George, 35, which was used by BT to carry out outsourced work.

This court heard that the gang “has specialist knowledge of the workings of BT and a high black market demand for specialist fibre optic installation equipment”.

They would objective BT Openreach vans parked overnight and cut holes in the roofs using metal cutters.

Initially, a small hole was cut in the roof to allow a view of the van’s contents. If a valuable fiber optic set was inside, a larger hole was made by cutting and tearing off a section of the roof.

The gang began its criminal activities in the West Midlands but its operations spread to the counties of Warwickshire, West Mercia, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Gloucestershire, Avon and Somerset and Essex.

During one robbery, the gang stole a welding machine worth £2,225, an optical time-domain reflectometer worth £2,400, a red light generator worth £135, a light source worth £564, fibre optic cutters worth £225; hand tools worth £450; and a labelling machine worth £23.

The head of a £1,480 fibre blowing machine was damaged during the raid.

Counihan received £2,100 into his bank account just a day after one of the raids and spent it on designer clothes.

Police launched an investigation after an off-duty BT employee took a photo of him driving a gang car fleeing from a gang.

They analyzed text messages he exchanged with an accomplice in which he talked about “skimming,” or stealing, and wearing reflective vests and helmets so he could “blend in” with crowds during one of the raids.

They also discussed the need for “new scissors” after the metal cutters they were using were thrown away during a previous raid.

There have also been messages requesting items and plans to steal to order.

Counihan sent messages to his coworker, asking if he wanted a fiber optic splicer and discussing commercially available fiber optic equipment.

He then sent screenshots stating that he was “looking around.”

Following his arrest in June 2020, Couniham initially denied the allegations.

He later said he had participated as a driver and spotter in some of the raids, and in only one case had he been involved in selling stolen property.

He admitted that he received “a few hundred pounds on average.”

Counihan later wrote a letter to the court outlining how he had managed to join the British national boxing team with the help of lottery funding and how he had become involved in schools to inspire other children to take up boxing.

He decided to turn professional after narrowly missing out on the 2012 Olympics and won his first eight fights as a pro before a shadow was noticed on his brain.

He stated that he was no longer able to box and that his life had “become complete chaos”.

He stated that he was in a “bad place” when he joined the gang.

Sentencing, Judge Anthony Potter said the scheme was a “brutal and highly effective nationwide conspiracy” but pointed to two-and-a-half-year delays in the case which had allowed Counihan to “turn his life around”.

The judge accepted that at the time of the fraud Counihan was “deprived of the career he had enjoyed throughout most of his childhood and adult life” but said he had since undergone a “significant change” after becoming the father of a son.

George, from Birmingham, was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

6

6

6