The son of a multimillionaire caravan magnate has avoided jail for trying to sell a share of a £4.8m golden toilet snatched from Blenheim Palace in a dramatic five-minute raid.
Fred Doe, 37, was convicted following a trial in March of attempting to broker the sale of around 10 kilos of the stolen gold on behalf of burglar and family friend James Sheen, 40.
Formerly known as Fred Sines, Doe is the son of multimillionaire caravan magnate Maurice ‘Fred’ Sines – who has been accused by Irish authorities of being an ally of the notorious Kinahan organised crime clan.
Speaking outside court after being handed a suspended sentence, Doe celebrated with his father and insisted he was a ‘good person’ whose ‘good nature was taken advantage of’.
The 18-carat golden toilet was an artwork called ‘America’ by satirist Maurizio Cattelan and had been plumbed in at Blenheim Palace for visitors to use at an exhibition in September 2019.
But in the early hours of September 14 – just two days after the toilet went on display – a gang of five men came screeching into the grounds of Winston Churchill’s birthplace in two stolen cars.
Extraordinary CCTV captured the unfolding raid as three of the men smashed their way through a window with sledgehammers and crowbars and emerged just minutes later with the golden toilet. No trace has ever been found.
Within hours of the heist, married father-of-four Doe, who lives in a mansion near Ascot racecourse, messaged Sheen to say he knew about the stolen gold and could help him.
Fred Doe, previously known as Frederick Sines, (right) with his caravan magnate father after avoiding jail
The solid 18-carat gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace during the overnight raid in 2019
Multi-millionaire residential park owner ‘Fred’ Doe Senior, pictured with a luxury car, previously claimed his son may have been ‘victimised’ because of the family name and his gypsy roots
Michael Jones, 39, (pictured outside Oxford Crown Court) was also found guilty of burglary
He then approached a jeweller in the Hatton Garden area and arranged for him to value Sheen’s gold, but the sale collapsed. The jeweller, Bora Guccuk, was acquitted at trial of laundering the stolen wares.
Judge Ian Pringle KC told a sentencing hearing at Oxford Crown Court today that the value of the gold that Doe was trying to sell was likely worth between £250,000 and £260,000.
Doe, dressed in a white jumper and grey trousers, sat in the dock with two enormous Sports Direct holdalls at his side. He was supported in court by his father and other family.
The judge sentenced Doe to 21 months, suspended for two years, after accepting that he had strong personal mitigation due to his wife’s poor health and the wellbeing of his children.
His family clapped and yelled ‘yes!’ as the judge announced the sentence would be suspended.
Speaking outside court, Doe said he had been taken advantage of by those who stole the gold toilet from Blenheim Palace.
Doe told the PA news agency: ‘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.
Sheen and fellow burglar Michael Jones, 39, are due to be sentenced over their role in the raid next month.
Fred Doe (pictured), was convicted of trying to sell the stolen gold, following a trial at Oxford Crown Court. He is seen celebrating today after he was handed a suspended sentence
The judge sentenced Doe (pictured) to 21 months, suspended for two years, after accepting that he had strong personal mitigation due to his wife’s poor health and the wellbeing of his children
Doe leaving Oxford Crown Court after being sentenced to 21 months imprisonment suspended for two years
James Sheen (pictured), previously admitted to stealing the 18-carat gold toilet from Blenheim Palace
Doe became involved in the conspiracy when he heard Sheen – whom he knew through the traveller community – had snatched the toilet and offered to use his extensive contacts in Hatton Garden to sell the stolen gold.
His father previously told the Mail that he believed authorities were only targeting his son as ‘pay back’ because they had failed to bring him down over his links to the Kinahans.
Speaking outside court today, Doe’s father told the Mail: ‘My son got what he deserved. Running the trial was a lot, but it let him put his case and tell his story which the judge heard. He is a family man, he’s not a criminal and not a crook.
‘Come to court, tell your story and if you tell your story you get the right result. Five years he’s had this trauma, he’s in poor health.’
In an apparent reference to Doe’s association with Sheen, he continued: ‘If you lie down with dogs you will wake up with fleas.’
He also reiterated his view that his son was only targeted by authorities over his connection to the Kinahan family, saying: ‘You cannot blame other people for someone else. Association is not a crime.’
Doe had contacted Guccuk, who ran a jewellery shop called Pacha of London in Hatton Garden, within hours of the burglary and set in motion an attempt to sell Sheen’s share of the gold.
The middle man gave evidence over several days during the trial and told jurors that he had no idea the gold was stolen – and never would have got involved with the ‘idiot’ Sheen if he did.
CCTV shows one of the raiders holding a golden toilet seat during the five-minute heist in September 2019
The toilet (pictured) was taken in September 2019 while it formed part of an art installation entitled ‘America’
The exhibition allowed visitors to look at and even sit on the statement toilet, which was designed by artist Maurizio Cattelan and plumbed in the palace, near the room where Winston Churchill was born (pictured: the empty space left after the toilet was taken)
Bora Guccuk (pictured outside Oxford Crown Court) was acquitted of trying to launder the stolen gold
Crispin Aylett KC, defending Doe, told the court today that he was ‘a bit-part player who succeeded only in delaying James Sheen in converting his gold into cash’.
‘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,’ Mr Aylett said.
The barrister suggested that Doe’s ‘good nature’ had been taken advantage of by those involved in the conspiracy.
Passing sentence, the judge told Doe: ‘Those responsible for this audacious heist were clearly intent on disposing of their ill-gotten gains quickly – one of them was James Sheen and he knew you.
‘He clearly also knew you had business connections, entirely legitimate business connections, with the Hatton Garden area in London.
‘You foolishly agreed to assist him and I use you words at the end of your examination in chief when you were asked how you felt about it now, you said: ‘I feel a fool’.
‘You agreed to assist Mr Sheen without any hope or expectation of a reward for yourself – the court heard you regularly do things for people as favours without any expectation of rewards.
‘You have spent the past five years regretting doing so for James Sheen.’
But the judge 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.
The judge said he took account of the character references speaking to Doe’s ‘kind, caring and selfless’ nature, as well as the impact a custodial sentence would have on his family given his wife’s ongoing health issues.
In mitigation, Mr Aylett had earlier referred to a ‘wealth’ of character references provided on Doe’s behalf – including from a magistrate who said: ‘Sadly, he has some relationships with others who have taken advantage of his good nature.’
Mr Aylett said that the Sporting Ring boxing club in Camberley – where Doe coached underprivileged young athletes – might have to close if he was jailed, as there were no other coaches with the necessary qualification levels.
But he said the strongest personal mitigation he could offer was his family life, as Doe’s wife had been diagnosed with cancer and undergone a complex medical procedure during the trial.
A crowbar used by the toilet raider gang to steal the solid gold toilet
Sheen, who pleaded guilty in April last year, bragged to Doe with a picture showing a large pile of cash
Jones carried out reconnaissance before the heist, was in regular contact with one of the ringleaders and took pictures of the toilet on his phone (pictured)
The sledgehammer-wielding gang were caught on CCTV (pictured) rolling the toilet out of smashed window and into the boot of a waiting car, before screeching away
‘Mr Doe has four children, the youngest being no more than 18 months old,’ he said.
‘The effect on his children cannot be overstated.’
Doe was told his sentence would be suspended, but he would have to perform 240 hours of unpaid work. The prosecution intends to bring separate compensation proceedings next year.
The trial heard how Sheen, who pleaded guilty to burglary in April last year, bragged in a message to Doe that he had made £520,000 from selling his share of the gold to an unidentified jeweller in Birmingham.
His message was accompanied by a picture showing a large pile of cash.
Questions have mounted for police over their failure to snare the three other members of the burglary gang, despite one man being heavily linked to the burglary throughout the trial.
An individual named in court as Carl Davies was said to be the first person to contact Doe about the stolen gold and he later went with Sheen to Birmingham when he sold his share.
He also lived in a caravan park where cell site data placed Sheen’s phone just minutes after the burglary.
‘Carl Davies seems to be in this up to his neck,’ Crispin Aylett KC, representing Doe, told the court during his closing speech in March.
‘At very least there is evidence of his telephone going to Birmingham.
‘Why isn’t he in the dock?’
Mr Aylett said it was ‘a somewhat unsatisfactory state of affairs’ that the other burglars had ‘filled their boots’, while the police were left unable to ‘flush them out’.
None of the gold bullion merchants who bought the stolen gold have been charged and the ultimate fate of the gold remains a mystery.
The toilet, which weighed 98kg fully plumbed in, was snatched in a dramatic five-minute raid on Blenheim Palace (pictured) shortly before 5am on September 14, 2019
The sledge-hammer used by the gang during the ‘audacious’ five-minute heist
The gang, armed with sledgehammers and crossbars, bundling the £4.8million toilet into the back of a car
Court artist sketch of (left to right) Michael Jones, Fred Doe, who were found guilty, and Bora Guccuk, who was found not guilty
A silver pick-up truck used in the raid which was found abandoned nearby
Doe’s father was linked to the Kinahan clan in evidence submitted to Ireland’s High Court by its Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).
He was said to be particularly close to senior gang member called Liam Byrne, with whom he has been photographed on a sunshine holiday.
Doe Sr was also pictured among the VIP mourners at the funeral of Byrne’s brother David, who was shot dead in 2016 by a hitman from the rival gang, at a Dublin boxing match weigh-in.
He furiously denied having anything to do with the world of organised crime when he spoke to the Mail in March – claiming he was being persecuted just for being friends with the Kinahans.
