Millionaire's son who tried to sell stolen $6.4 million gold toilet avoids jail in UK

Fred Doe, the son of a multimillionaire caravan magnate, avoided jail after he tried to sell a £4.8 million ($6.4 million) golden toilet stolen from England's Blenheim Palace.
The 37-year-old was convicted of trying to sell 10 kg of the gold on behalf of a burglar who stole the toilet. Doe was given a 21-month suspended sentence after he was found guilty of conspiracy to convert or transfer criminal property in March. While sentencing Doe, the judge said that he had no personal gain or wide involvement and was only part of the sale for a short period. Doe has, however, been ordered to do 240 hours of unpaid work.
The 18-carat toilet named 'America' was created by the artist Maurizio Cattelan and installed at the Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire as part of an exhibition.
The unusual artwork was created in 2016 for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. It was set in one of the museum's bathrooms along with other toilets to be used by the visitors.
According to the museum, over 100,000 people waited in line to use it and a security guard was posted outside the bathroom. The gold toilet weighed over 103 kilograms, which in September 2019 was valued at more than four million dollars.
Five men broke into the palace in September 2019 and ripped out the toilet before fleeing in a stolen car. Doe went on trial with Michael Jones, 39, and Bora Guccuk, 41. James Sheen, 40, another burglar who had enlisted Doe's help to sell the gold, had already pleaded guilty to burglary.
A few days after the burglary, Sheen contacted Doe to discuss selling the stolen gold. Using coded language, the pair exchanged messages referring to "cars" and being offered "26 and a half," which, according to the Crown Prosecution Service, was a covert reference to receiving £26,500 per kilo of gold.
The judge noted that Doe had been of good character previously and accepted that the conspirators may have taken advantage of his good nature and used him for his contacts in the Hatton Garden jewellery district. "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 told reporters outside the court.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Indian Express

15-06-2025

• Indian Express

DPS Dwarka fee row continues, parents protest at Jantar Mantar & raise 5 demands

'Our children are being punished for the system's failure,' said a parent as hundreds gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Saturday in protest, amid a row over the fee hike by the Delhi Public School (DPS) Dwarka and alleged discrimination against students whose parents refused to comply. Even as the Delhi High Court in May had ordered reinstatement of 102 students, directing submission of a 50% hiked fee, demonstrators on Saturday alleged that the school had not complied. However, sources in DPS Dwarka said that the students will be reinstated as per the court's order once the hiked fee is paid. 'Parents have been asked to clear dues as per the order,' an official said. But parents have alleged that the school continues to harass them. 'They are not complying with the complete court order, and not refunding the extra amount charged… they are asking more than what the High Court order allowed,' said a parent. Carrying placards and banners, the demonstrators laid out five key demands as the conflict continues: immediate reinstatement of all 32 affected students at DPS Dwarka without conditions; strict enforcement of DoE (Directorate of Education) and court directives; criminal proceedings against school management and security personnel for alleged child harassment; a time-bound review of the school's pending fee proposals or suspension of the responsible DoE officials; and audit reforms, including cancellation of licenses of any chartered accountants found complicit in financial irregularities. Highlighting the emotional and academic distress families have faced, protest groups from over 20 other private schools in the city joined in solidarity, warning that unchecked fee hikes and unfair practices at one institution could set a dangerous precedent across the city. In a statement on Saturday, the group of parents said that they have issued an appeal to the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, the GNCTD Directorate of Education, and the Delhi government to ensure that private schools operate within the law and that no child is denied access to education or subjected to harassment over fee disputes. The fee hike dispute in the Capital's schools has been a long-standing issue. Amid widespread demonstrations in the city, the Cabinet on June 10 approved the 'Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Ordinance, 2025'. Under this, private schools must obtain approval before any fee increase, establish three independent panels at the state, district, and school levels to review proposals, and require automatic refunds of any excess fees already collected. This came in the backdrop of the DoE rejecting DPS Dwarka's proposed fee hike for the 2023–24 academic year and directing the school to refund any excess fees collected last May. Parents have alleged that, despite this order, the school again raised fees for the 2024–25 and 2025–26 sessions. DPS Dwarka, for its part, has maintained that it issued show-cause notices to parents as early as December, and that over Rs 1 lakh remained outstanding from around 130 students, resulting in a loss of over Rs 6 crore when some students completed Class XII, an official had earlier told The Indian Express. The school had also previously rejected the parents' claims as 'false and frivolous.' In response, parents of 102 students from the school approached the Delhi High Court, challenging both the unauthorised fee increases and the expulsions that followed. On May 16, the High Court orally indicated its inclination to stay the school's decision to expel 32 students for non-payment of unapproved fees, observing that DPS Dwarka had not followed Rule 35(4) of the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973, which requires prior notice and an opportunity to show cause. Further clarity came on May 30, when Justice Vikas Mahajan ordered DPS Dwarka to allow 102 affected students to continue attending classes provided their parents paid 50% of the increased portion of their 2024–25 fees, while still settling the regular fee in full. The court affirmed that under Section 17(3) of the Delhi School Education Act, the DoE holds the power to curb arbitrary or profiteering fee hikes. The next hearing is scheduled for August 28. On June 5, the HC – while slamming the school for deploying bouncers to stop students from attending classes – made it clear that if a school seeks to act under Rule 35 of the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973, it must first issue prior communication to the affected students or their guardians, specifying the date on which the action is proposed. The school must also provide a reasonable opportunity to show cause against such action, the order stated. Beyond the fee issue, on Saturday, parents pointed to an April DoE inspection report that documented alleged discriminatory practices at the school. According to the report, some students were confined to the library, barred from classrooms and the canteen, subjected to constant staff surveillance even during restroom visits, and in certain cases physically prevented from entering the premises by hired bouncers. Demonstrators described these measures as inhumane and a serious violation of child rights.

Mint

14-06-2025

• Mint

Stolen in 5 minutes: Thieves get jailed for stealing 18-carat gold toilet, called America: Check how much it's worth

Two men from Oxford have been jailed for stealing a £4.8 million ($6.5 million) gold toilet. The crime took place during an art show at Blenheim Palace in 2019. The solid 18-carat gold toilet is called America. It was stolen just after a launch party at the palace. The artwork was created by Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan, who became popular after creating the viral artwork of a fresh banana duct-taped to a wall. James Sheen, 40, admitted to burglary and selling the stolen gold. Michael Jones, 39, was found guilty of burglary, the BBC reported. Sheen was sentenced to four years, and Jones got two years and three months. The court called it a 'bold and brazen' theft that took just over five minutes. Sheen's DNA, gold pieces in his clothes and messages on his phone helped convict him. Senior crown prosecutor Shan Saunders said it was rare to find so much information on one phone. During the trial, jurors heard voice notes from Sheen to Fred Doe, who was earlier found guilty of planning to sell the stolen gold toilet. The messages were hard to understand because they used coded words, Romany slang and Cockney rhyming slang. Sheen used 'car' as a code for gold. " The car is what it is mate, innit? The car is as good as money," the BBC quoted him as saying. Just two weeks after the theft, Sheen sold 20kg of gold for £520,000 ($707,200). He had a long criminal past, having been jailed at least six times since 2005. Sheen is already serving 19 years for other crimes and will now serve an extra four years for this heist. Jones, who has a criminal past, visited Blenheim Palace twice before the theft. On Sheen's order, he booked a slot to use the toilet, took photos and checked the layout. He later called the golden toilet 'splendid'. Judge Ian Pringle KC said Jones had helped plan the theft by mapping the fastest way in and out. Detective Superintendent Bruce Riddell called Sheen the mastermind, who wanted to 'make money by any means necessary'. "Jones also played a key part in the burglary, as he carried out two recces at Blenheim Palace in the days leading up to the burglary, and it is our belief that he also was there on the night," Riddell said.

NDTV

13-06-2025

• NDTV

Two Jailed For Gold Toilet Heist At Churchill's Birthplace

London: Two men were jailed on Friday for stealing an 18-carat golden toilet that had been on display as an artwork in an exhibition at Winston Churchill's birthplace. The fully functioning toilet, a work titled "America" by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was stolen from the Churchill family seat of Blenheim Palace in southern England, a major tourist attraction and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Prosecutor Julian Christopher told jurors at the start of the trial at Oxford Crown Court in February that a group of five men had driven two stolen vehicles through locked wooden gates into the palace grounds before dawn on September 14, 2019. They broke in through a window, smashed down a wooden door, ripped the toilet from the wall and left after five minutes in the building. The toilet, weighing 98 kilos (216 pounds) was insured for $6 million. Prosecutors say it was probably divided into smaller amounts of gold to sell it off. None of the gold has ever been recovered. James Sheen, 40, had pleaded guilty before trial to burglary, conspiring to convert or transfer the gold and converting or transferring the gold. Michael Jones, 39, was found guilty of burglary by a jury, having pleaded not guilty. Judge Ian Pringle said the pair had played important roles in the "bold and brazen heist", though the judge said he could not be sure that Jones was present during the burglary. Sheen was sentenced to four years in jail, with the sentence to begin at the end of a separate jail term of nearly 20 years he is currently serving for a series of thefts. Jones was sentenced to 27 months in prison.