Latest news with #BlenheimPalace
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The devastating mystery gripping the heir of Blenheim Palace and his desperate family - and the film star battling abuse trauma: RICHARD EDEN'S DIARY
Mystery at Blenheim Palace: Heir's dog vanishes He's blessed with a glamorous wife, two wonderful young daughters – and will, one day, inherit Blenheim Palace, arguably the most sumptuous family seat in Britain, plus its 12,000-acre estate. But never assume that the Marquess of Blandford, the 12th Duke of Marlborough's son and heir, is immune to the trials and tribulations that can afflict us all. George Spencer-Churchill's young labrador, Gecko, went missing at the weekend. Perhaps even more disquietingly, she remains unaccounted for, even though there was a tracker in her distinctive pink collar. This allowed Gecko's movements to be traced to the northernmost part of Woodstock, the Oxfordshire town near Blenheim. That was shortly before 2pm on Sunday. But thereafter the trail ran cold – prompting George, 32, and his wife Camilla, 38, both pictured, to seek assistance from the police, who have issued a public appeal in a bid to find Gecko. There is another element which adds to their heartache. I understand that, at the time Gecko disappeared, she was in the care of a trusted third party. Friends and family have been putting up posters alerting locals. 'If someone has stolen her, then people will have read about her,' one tells me. George certainly won't be daunted by the challenge. In 2019, he and two of his wife's cousins rowed across the Atlantic in 35 days, securing themselves a Guinness World Record for the 'fastest time for a related team of four to row the Atlantic east to west'. I profoundly hope that the Spencer-Churchill motto – 'faithful but unfortunate' – does not hold true for Gecko. George and Camilla Blandford attending the Blenheim by Starlight charity ball in 2019 Blandford's post appealing for help finding his missing golden labrador Fry's latest field of study? Wrestling... SIR Stephen Fry has a surprising new passion. The Cambridge-educated polymath, 67, and former Marylebone Cricket Club president has become obsessed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). 'I am now a fan of WWE and I bought a couple of tickets for Wrestlemania in Las Vegas,' reveals Fry, a friend of King Charles. 'I said that to some people and they've said, 'Doesn't he know it's fake?' and I go, 'Oh, for heaven's sake!' It isn't fake in the sense that they are banging on and doing things to their bodies which are astonishing for entertainment. They are bloody talented.' Konnichiwa! Lily takes Tokyo trip A previous trip to Japan didn't run smoothly for Lily James after she was wrongly accused of mocking the local accent. Happily, this hasn't deterred the former Downton Abbey star from embracing the country's culture. The Surrey-born actress, 36, took part in a Japanese tea ceremony in the capital, which involves preparing, serving and drinking tea to promote wellbeing, mindfulness and harmony. She wore a traditional kimono with a floral print. 'I love Tokyo,' she said next to photographs shared online. Lily James in Tokyo A rare sighting in ermine of former prime minister David Cameron, who was one of two official 'supporters' as former attorney general Victoria Prentis became a member of the Lords on Monday. One onlooker reports that Lord Cameron, who has yet to make a speech in the house this year, is now sporting an increasingly obvious bald patch. Don't expect to catch a glimpse of Michel Roux Jr at your local drive-through. 'I don't do takeaways,' the chef tells me. 'My last McDonald's was in October 1989 and my first and last KFC in 1976.' Clearly the dates stuck in the memory of Roux, 65, whose two Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant Le Gavroche closed last year. Film helped Jaime deal with trauma Jaime Winstone has revealed that starring in a film about childhood trauma has dredged up memories of abuse she suffered in the past. The daughter of Hollywood hardman Ray Winstone, 68, appears in the psychological horror Everyone Is Going To Die. 'The film gave me the opportunity to creatively purge from a trauma,' says the actress, 40, who played the young Peggy Mitchell in TV soap EastEnders and Dame Barbara Windsor in biopic Babs. 'I was triggered from a trauma. There was a lot of stuff happening to do with a certain person that I have dealt with, with abuse.' Fans can't tell who's Hugh Griff Rhys Jones has a problem. The television personality can't go anywhere without being mistaken for Hugh Grant – who is seven years his junior. 'I've just come back from the States,' Griff, 71, says. 'Nearly every day somebody would come, because there was a camera around, and ask for an autograph, assuming I was Hugh.' Griff says of the Four Weddings And A Funeral star: 'I haven't told him directly. I've only met him once in the last five years, and he very sweetly said, 'And what do you do these days?' 'I said, 'Well, I'm still in television, Hugh, what about you?' ' Touche. The television personality can't go anywhere without being mistaken for the Four Weddings and a Funeral star – who is seven years his junior.
The Sun
19-05-2025
- The Sun
Jeweller who tried to sell £4.8MILLION gold toilet stolen in stately home ram raid dodges jail due to his ‘good nature'
A MAN who tried to sell a £4.8million gold toilet stolen from a stately home dodged jail due to his 'good nature'. Jeweller Frederick Doe, 37, got caught up in the heist after a ram-raid on Blenheim Palace in 2019. 3 The audacious theft saw the loo — installed as an artwork called America — taken from Winston Churchill's Oxfordshire birthplace in just five minutes. Doe facilitated the attempted sale of the gold to dealer Bora Guccuk — who was cleared of knowing it was stolen — in London's Hatton Garden. The deal didn't go ahead and none of the gold has been recovered. Doe, also known as Fred Sines, admitted using the code word 'cars' for the gold bars but said he didn't know it was stolen. He celebrated with his family after avoiding jail. He told the trial at Oxford crown court: 'To me, gold is gold. I don't know good gold from bad.' Doe, who said he had not expected to profit from the sale, was found guilty in March of conspiracy to transfer criminal property. Judge Ian Pringle KC yesterday accepted that the businessman, of Windsor, Berks, was of previous good character. He sentenced him to 21 months' jail — suspended for two years — and 240 hours' unpaid work. The court heard that Doe was a dad of four whose wife is suffering from a severe but undiagnosed medical condition. He also runs a boxing club for underprivileged youngsters in his home town and was said to have had his good nature 'taken advantage of'. Two gang members will be sentenced for their parts in June. Guggenheim Museum gold toilet which was turned down by Donald Trump to be installed at Blenheim Palace 3
Times
19-05-2025
- Times
Middleman avoids jail for Blenheim Palace golden toilet theft plot
The 'foolish' middleman in a plot to steal an 18-carat, £4.75 million golden toilet from Blenheim Palace has escaped a prison sentence. A gang ripped the lavatory, which was fully plumbed in as part of an art exhibition, from the wall of the Oxfordshire stately home with sledgehammers and a crowbar during the early morning raid in 2019. Fred Doe, 37, a watch dealer also known as Fred Sines, was contacted by one of the robbers, Jimmy Sheen, 40, and asked to sell some of the gold through his Hatton Garden jewellery quarter connections. Doe was found guilty earlier this year of conspiracy to convert or transfer criminal property. Doe insisted at his trial in March at Oxford crown court he had no idea the
Telegraph
19-05-2025
- Telegraph
Golden lavatory theft middle man avoids prison
A watch dealer who tried to sell parts of a £4.8 million golden lavatory stolen from Blenheim Palace claimed he had been 'taken advantage of' by a gang of burglars. Frederick Doe, 37, avoided jail on Monday for his part in the heist after a judge handed him a 21-month sentence, suspended for two years. The 18-carat lavatory was snatched in September 2019 by a gang of five men, who smashed their way into the palace before fleeing in a stolen car. One of the criminals, Michael Jones, 39, was convicted of burglary in connection with the crime after a trial in March. The alleged mastermind, James Sheen, 40, pleaded guilty to burglary last year. Doe had helped Sheen try to sell some of the gold in the weeks following the theft after he was 'targeted' by the gang because of his legitimate contacts in the Hatton Garden jewellery district. He had approached a jeweller and arranged for him to value the gold, but the sale collapsed. The jeweller, Bora Guccuk, was acquitted at trial of laundering the stolen goods. At Oxford Crown Court on Monday, judge Ian Pringle KC sentenced Doe to 21 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered him to do 240 hours of unpaid work. 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.' 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. Mr Pringle said the value of the gold Doe was trying to sell was likely to have been around £250,000. None of the gold has been recovered. The judge said: 'A work of art named America was stolen from Blenheim Palace when it was on display there. Those responsible for that audacious heist were all clearly interested in disposing of their ill-gotten gains quickly. 'One of them was James Sheen. He knew you or knew of you through a mutual friend. He clearly also knew you had business connections, entirely legitimate ones, I might add, with Hatton Gardens in London. 'You foolishly agreed to assist him, and I use your words during the trial when asked how you felt about this now and you said 'I feel a fool'. You agreed to assist Mr Sheen without any hope or indeed any expectation of any reward for yourself.' He said Doe, a father of four, was of previous good character and was described as someone whose good nature 'people take advantage of'. The judge took into account several mitigating factors such as his work training underprivileged young athletes, and the fact his wife had recently been diagnosed with cancer. He rejected the suggestion by prosecutor Julian Christopher KC that Doe was one of the main players in the conspiracy. 'You were, at best, a middle man who was targeted by James Sheen as you knew people in Hatton Garden because of your knowledge of valuable watches,' he said. Doe is the son of Maurice Sines, a multi-millionaire caravan park magnate who has been accused by Irish authorities of being an associate of the notorious Kinahan Cartel. He has previously denied having anything to do with the world of organised crime, claiming he was being persecuted just for being friends with the Kinahans. Sheen and fellow burglar Jones are due to be sentenced over their role in the raid next month.
The Independent
19-05-2025
- The Independent
Man who tried to sell $6.4m gold toilet stolen from English country house is spared jail
A man who tried to help a burglar cash in from the theft of a golden toilet valued at 4.74 million pounds ($6.4 million) was spared jail on Monday after a British judge said he had been taken advantage of by the thieves. 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, titled 'America,' 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. The piece that poked fun at excessive wealth had previously been on display at The Guggenheim Museum, in New York, which had offered the work to U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term in office after he had asked to borrow a Van Gogh painting. The theft of the toilet — which has never been recovered and is believed to have been cut up and sold — caused considerable damage to the 18th-century property, a UNESCO World Heritage site filled with valuable art and furniture that draws thousands of visitors each year. Of the group who smashed a window to get into the palace before dawn on Sept. 14, 2019, only two have been charged and convicted. James Sheen, 40, previously pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy and transferring criminal property. Michael Jones, 39, was convicted of burglary at the trial where Doe was convicted. Sheen and Jones will be sentenced June 13. Doe punched his fist in the air as he emerged from court, saying he was a good person who 'got caught up in something I should not have.' The judge said Sheen approached Doe because he had contacts in London's jewelry district. In a WhatsApp message, Doe told Sheen he could 'sell the gold in a second." Doe said he had no idea the gold was looted and wouldn't have sold stolen gold 'in a million years.' Doe, who was convicted of conspiracy to transfer criminal property, was given a two-year suspended term and ordered to perform 240 hours of unpaid work. 'You agreed to assist Mr. Sheen without any hope or expectation of a reward for yourself," the judge said. 'You no doubt, for the last five-and-a-half years, regret doing (that) for James Sheen every day since your arrest.'
