37-year-old Fred Dow, son of multimillionaire and caravan business owner Maurice Sainz, has avoided jail time after a court found him guilty of attempting to sell part of the stolen £4.8 million 18-carat gold toilet "America". This was reported by the Daily Mail, writes UNN.
Details
It is reported that Dow, formerly known as Fred Sainz, tried to mediate the sale of about 10 kg of gold, which, according to the investigation, was part of the stolen toilet. He acted on behalf of a longtime acquaintance of his family - James Sheen, one of the robbers.
The 18-carat gold toilet was a work of art called "America" by satirist Maurizio Cattelan and was installed at Blenheim Palace for visitors to the exhibition in September 2019.
But on September 14 - just two days after the toilet was put on display - a gang of five people drove into the grounds of Winston Churchill's birthplace in two stolen cars.
Surveillance footage showed three men breaking in through a window with sledgehammers and crowbars. A few minutes later, they reappeared with the golden toilet. No traces were ever found.
Dow contacted Sheen hours after the theft and offered to help sell the stolen gold. He even contacted a jeweler in the Hatton Garden area, but the deal fell through. Jeweler Bora Gukuk was fully acquitted.
A court in Oxford found Dow guilty, but took into account mitigating circumstances - the defendant's wife's health and the well-being of his four children. As a result, the man was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years. His family greeted the verdict with applause, and Dow himself said: "My good nature was taken advantage of. I got involved in something I shouldn't have, and now I just want to go home and enjoy my family. I'm a good person."
Let us remind you
In February 2025, it was reported that a 98 kg gold toilet, part of an art exhibition, had been stolen from Blenheim Palace. Three suspects appeared in court on charges of robbery and attempted sale of the stolen gold.