He had the world at his feet as one of the stars of Saturday night TV – but for Gladiator Michael Ahearne, the glitz and glamour wouldn’t last.
Ahearne was cheered by millions during his time as Warrior on the ITV show Gladiators and was earning up to £100,000 a year.
He was a household name and was able to boost his earnings from the show even further with lucrative personal appearances.
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But after six years on the show, his glittering showbiz life fell apart when he became involved with the criminal underworld in his home city of Liverpool.
Now aged 61, Ahearne has notched up time in prison and has vanished from life in the spotlight.
But where did it all go wrong for the hunky 6ft 4ins muscle-bound beefcake?
It all started so well when Ahearne became a prize-winning bodybuilder representing Great Britain at Mr Universe.
That title won him the role of Warrior on Gladiators and he was in the show during the 1990s for the first six series.
But in 1997 his life was turned upside down when he became embroiled in a plot to foil the prosecution of Philip Glennon Junior, the brother-in-law of international cocaine baron, Curtis ‘Cocky’ Warren.
Glennon had been accused of the attempted murder of a nightclub doorman and also a police officer.
Ahearne’s role was to pass money from Warren to the corrupt head of Merseyside Police’s drugs squad.
Glennon and the corrupt cop were both jailed and Ahearne was also jailed for corruption and perverting the course of justice. He was handed a 15-month sentence but served just six months.
After his release, Ahearne went to live back home in the Wirral and in 2004 opened his own exclusive golf bar – On The Green – in New Brighton, after pumping £250,000 into the venture.
He also opened Mike Ahearne’s Pro Gym in Birkenhead, but in August 2017, he had another brush with the law – this time as a victim.
Ahearne was cornered by four gangsters, who threatened to stab him and demanded money which was a debt Ahearne was said to owe to an investment partner. The four men involved in the attack were all jailed.
Just a year later, Ahearne was involved in another crime and narrowly avoided another prison term.
Police had raided his home and found a stash of anabolic steroids inside a plastic Tesco shopping bag, another bag and some boxes containing CS spray canisters.
(Image: LWT)
He was charged over the CS spray and admitted three counts of possessing a weapon “designed or adapted for the discharge of a noxious liquid”.
He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, at Liverpool Crown Court in October 2018 for these offences.
In October 2020 the case was back before the courts when Merseyside Police applied to have the CS spray destroyed. Ahearne was not at the hearing and has not appeared in the public spotlight since then.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
