Man involved in £4.75m Blenheim Palace gold toilet burglary learns his fate

A man who was involved in the theft and sale of a has avoided jail. The fully-functioning 18-carat gold toilet, which had been installed as an artwork at the Oxfordshire country house where Sir was born, was stolen in a raid in the early hours of September 14, 2019.

The £4.75 million gold toilet had been created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and was a . Oxford was told the distinctive item has been split up and disposed of for its gold.

Today, Frederick Doe, 36, also known as Frederick Sines, was handed a suspended sentence. He was found guilty after he helped burglar James Sheen sell some of the gold in the weeks following the raid.

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Judge Ian Pringle KC sentenced Doe to 21 months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered him to do 240 hours unpaid work. Doe, of Winkfield, Windsor, Berkshire, was found guilty by a jury at the same court in March of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

Doe helped one of the men who pleaded guilty to carrying out the burglary, James Sheen, to sell some of the gold in the following weeks, the court heard. The judge said Doe had been of previous good character and accepted that the conspirators may have taken advantage of his good nature. He said Doe was “targeted” for his legitimate contacts in the Hatton Garden jewellery district.

Speaking outside court, Doe said he had been taken advantage of by those who stole the gold toilet from Blenheim Palace. He said: “My good nature has been taken advantage of. I got caught up in something I should not have and now I just want to go home and enjoy my family. I am a good person.”

He left in a car surrounded by a group of friends, who shouted “he is a good person” and said they would be going for a drink to celebrate.

He went on trial alongside Michael Jones, 39, and Bora Guccuk, 41. James Sheen, 40, had already pleaded guilty to burglary. Sheen also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transfer criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property, at Oxford Crown Court in April 2024.

The trial was told Jones visited the palace twice before the theft, but denied these were reconnaissance trips. He previously told jurors he “took advantage of” the gold toilet’s “facilities” while at the country house the day before it was taken. Asked what it was like, Jones said: “Splendid.”

The court previously heard Jones had worked as a roofer and builder for Sheen from about 2018 and was effectively Sheen’s “right-hand man”, being trusted to arrange payments for his friend’s other employees.

While Sheen was one of the masterminds behind the burglary, Jones, 39, played his part by carrying out a reconnaissance visit at the palace in the days prior to the theft and was present on the night the toilet was stolen.

As put to Jones at trial by prosecutors, on his first visit ahead of the art exhibition opening he took photos from inside the building of the window that the thieves would use to enter the palace.

The day before the raid he took photos of the toilet itself, the lock on the toilet door and further pictures of the same window from the outside.

A couple of days after the burglary, Sheen contacted Fred Doe, 36, about selling the gold. Through coded messages, the two men talked about ‘cars’ and getting offered ‘26 and a half’ – which the Crown Prosecution Service said alluded to the men getting £26,500 per kilo of the stolen gold.

Sheen’s DNA was found both on a sledgehammer left at the scene and in the stolen Isuzu truck used in the raid. Tracksuit bottoms seized at his home had hundreds of gold fragments on them, which when analysed were indistinguishable from the gold from which the toilet was made.

Jones was arrested on October 16, 2019 and police analysed his phone. He had been searching for newspaper reports about the stolen toilet on September 20, jurors were told previously. He was found guilty of burglary by the jury.

The same jury found Bora Guccuk, 41, from west London, not guilty of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

Jones and Sheen are set to be sentenced at a later date.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Shan Saunders said: “This was an audacious raid which had been carefully planned and executed – but those responsible were not careful enough, leaving a trail of evidence in the form of forensics, CCTV footage and phone data.

“While none of the gold was ever recovered – no doubt having been broken up or melted down and sold on soon after it was stolen – we are confident this prosecution has played a part in disrupting a wider crime and money laundering network.”

Speaking outside Oxford Crown Court following the verdicts, Detective Superintendent Bruce Riddell said: “As part of the investigation a number of other arrests were made but further charges could not be brought and it is clear that there are others who were involved in this crime.

“If anyone has information that they have not already come forward with in relation to the burglary or the sale of the gold, then we would encourage them to get in touch with or Crimestoppers.”

Blenheim Palace said in a statement: “We are extremely pleased that, five years after the theft of Maurizio Cattelan’s artwork America, three individuals have been brought to justice.

“We would like to thank Thames Valley Police for their tireless work on this case and the highly professional way they have conducted their investigation into the theft from Blenheim Palace.”