A man who admitted stealing a £4.75 million gold toilet from Blenheim Palace said he was “stressed to death” while trying to sell his loot, a jury has heard.
James Sheen has admitted taking part in a burglary at the Oxfordshire palace in the early hours of September 14 2019, when the fully functioning 18-carat toilet was stolen from the birthplace of Winston Churchill.
The toilet, an artwork by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan entitled America, was a star attraction in an exhibition when it was stolen during a five-minute “audacious raid” by sledgehammer-wielding thieves who smashed their way in.
Jurors heard on Tuesday during the evidence of Frederick Doe, also known as Frederick Sines, that Sheen told him in a message he was stressed trying to sell the gold – which Doe said he did not know was from the Blenheim Palace toilet.
Sheen, 40, wrote in a text conversation dated September 26 2019: “I’m stressed out to death and that’s the truth.”
Frederick Sines, also known Frederick Doe, has given evidence (PA)
He also wrote that he was “not bothered to be running up and down for a couple hundred grand”, adding: “I don’t care about that, it’s stressing me out, it’s doing my head in.”
Doe, 36, of Burleigh Lane in Ascot, Berkshire, is accused of helping Sheen sell the gold from the stolen toilet.
Jurors previously heard Sheen first got in touch with Doe on September 16 2019 – two days after the raid at Blenheim Palace – asking if Doe could help him sell 20 kilos of gold.
Doe replied to Sheen in a WhatsApp message: “I do know just the man you need to see.”
The married father-of-four also told Sheen he could “sell the gold in a second”, the court heard.
Doe previously told jurors he had “never had any indication at any time that the gold was stolen” and would have “never in a million years” helped sell stolen gold.
A large object was placed into the boot of the vehicle in the courtyard at the front of Blenheim Palace (Thames Valley Police/PA)
The court heard on Tuesday the pair arranged to meet on September 23 2019 in Hatton Garden to see the owner of Pacha of London Jewellery, Bora Guccuk.
Sheen turned up in Hatton Garden carrying a black gym bag which contained five kilos of gold, Doe told jurors.
Doe said: “He was carrying a sports bag with him that he had taken from the boot of his car. Just like a gym bag, quite big, and black.
“We went in, I introduced him to Bora.
“I spoke to Bora about the gold. He (Sheen) took another smaller bag from inside the bag. He left that there. It was just another black bag, like a holdall bag.
“Bora said, just come back this afternoon.
“Mr Sheen said it was the gold in the holdall. Five kilos of gold. He said that to Bora and myself.”
Doe told jurors he never looked inside the bag and did not see the gold in person.
“Not at any given time,” he said.
He estimated the three of them were in the jewellery shop for about three to four minutes before they walked out.
But by September 26 2019, Sheen had not received any money from Guccuk, and the deal between them collapsed before the five kilos of gold were handed back to Sheen, Doe told the court.
He said: “Sheen was quite agitated.
“He (Guccuk) was just like, ‘I’m sorting it, I’m sorting it’ – I believe he was trying his earnest, but…
“I believe at that stage Bora could not sell the gold. I spoke to him and said to just give it back to him (Sheen).”
After that, Doe had no further involvement in trying to sell the gold, he told jurors.
Asked by his defence lawyer Crispin Aylett KC whether he had ever helped sell amounts of gold as large as 20 kilos, Doe replied: “No.”
When asked what was the largest amount of gold he ever dealt with, Doe said: “I’ve seen gold but I have never really dealt with gold myself, never been a gold dealer myself.
“I deal more in watches and jewellery.”
Doe told jurors on Monday he had been passionate about watches since childhood, which led him to develop contacts with jewellers at Hatton Garden in London.
He also said he had not heard of the raid at Blenheim Palace until November 14 2019, when Guccuk was interviewed by police.
Doe and Guccuk, 41, from west London, each deny one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
It is believed Sheen took the 20 kilos of gold from the toilet artwork to Birmingham Jewellery Quarter on September 27 2019, and sold it for £26,000 a kilogram – pocketing a total of £520,000, the court heard.
Sheen, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, also pleaded guilty to an offence of transferring or converting gold in Birmingham on that date.
The trial was adjourned for the day after one of the jurors was knocked over by a car during the lunch break.
Judge Pringle said the juror “bravely” made her way back to court but was encouraged to go to hospital.
The trial will resume on Wednesday.