Frederick Doe walks free over £4,750,000 gold toilet theft plot from Blenheim Palace

Metro

19-05-2025

A man has been handed a suspended sentence for his part in the theft of a £4.75 million 18-carat gold toilet from Blenheim Palace.
Frederick Doe, 36, was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to do 240 hours unpaid work.
Doe, from Ascot, Berkshire, who is the son of a multimillion caravan magnate, was previously found guilty of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
CCTV from the early hours of September 14, 2019, showed three men smashing their way through a window with crowbars and sledgehammers, to then emerge with the golden toilet.
Speaking outside court, Doe 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.'
His friends joined him outside court and they shouted 'he is a good person' and that he would be off to have a drink to celebrate.
Judge Ian Pringle KC said Doe was of previous good character and that the other men may have taken advantage of his good nature.
'You had a limited function, you had no personal gain, you had no wider involvement and you were involved for a short period,' he told Doe.
He rejected the prosecution's suggestion that Doe was one of the main players and added: 'You had a limited function, you had no personal gain, you had no wider involvement and you were involved for a short period.'
The value of the gold Doe tried to sell on was worth between £250,000 and £260,000, according to the judge.
The judge said he was 'targeted' for his legitimate contacts in the Hatton Garden jewellery district.
Doe, formerly known as Fred Sines, is the son of Maurice 'Fred' Sines – who has been accused by Irish authorities of being an ally of the notorious Kinahan organised crime gang.
Michael Jones, 39, was previously found guilty of planning the robbery at the Oxfordshire house.
The day before the theft on September 14, 2019, Jones also revealed he 'took advantage of' the gold toilet's 'facilities' while at the country house.
Asked what it was like, Jones said: 'Splendid.'
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.
Sheen, 40, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, had already pleaded guilty to stealing the toilet.
He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transfer criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property.
Jones and Sheen will be sentenced on June 13.
Jones visited the palace twice before the theft but had denied these were reconnaissance trips.
Doe got involved when he heard Sheen had stolen the toilet and offered to use his contacts to sell the stolen gold.
Doe contacted Bora Guccuk, 41, who ran a jewellery shop called Pacha of London to sell off Sheen's share of the gold.
Guccuk has previously been cleared.
The court heard that Sheen bragged to Doe about making £520,000 from selling his share of the gold to an unidentified jeweller in Birmingham.
Three other men involved in the burglary have never been found by police and the fate of the gold is still a mystery.
Crispin Aylett KC, defending Doe, said: 'The actual extent of Mr Doe's involvement was to introduce Mr Sheen to Bora Guccuck and Bora Guccuk was unable to come up with the money and, as we know, Mr Sheen took his gold to Birmingham and boasted about the money he made.'
The gold toilet was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and was a star attraction in an art exhibition when it was stolen.
Blenheim Palace is famous for being the birthplace of former prime minister Sir Winston Churchill.
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