Man who tried to sell $6.4m gold toilet stolen from English country house is spared jail
Frederick Doe, 37, also known as Frederick Sines, was given a suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court for his role in helping to sell the 18-carat gold fully functioning toilet which was taken in 2019 from Blenheim Palace — the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born.
'Those responsible for this audacious heist, five individuals could be seen on CCTV, were clearly intent on disposing of their ill-gotten gains quickly,' Judge Ian Pringle told Doe. 'You foolishly agreed to assist.'
The toilet was part of a satirical art installation, by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, whose work of a banana duct-taped to a wall was sold in 2024 for $6.2 million at auction in New York.
The toilet weighed just over 215 pounds (98 kilograms). The value of the gold at the time was 2.8 million pounds and it was insured for 4.74 million pounds. AP
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