19-05-2025
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
