A man has avoided prison for his part in a plot to steal a £4.75 million gold toilet from Blenheim Palace. Frederick Doe, 36, also known as Frederick Sines, has been handed a suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court following the incident in 2019. Judge Ian Pringle KC sentenced Doe to 21 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered him to do 240 hours of unpaid work.

Doe, of Winkfield, Windsor, Berkshire, was found guilty by a jury at the same court in March of conspiracy to transfer criminal property. Doe helped one of the men who pleaded guilty to carrying out the burglary, James Sheen, to sell some of the gold in the following weeks, the court heard.

The 18-carat toilet was taken in 2019 while featuring in an art exhibition at the ancestral home of Winston Churchill in Oxfordshire.

The judge said Doe had been of previous good character and accepted that the conspirators may have taken advantage of his good nature.

He said Doe was "targeted" for his legitimate contacts in the Hatton Garden jewellery district.

Speaking outside court, Doe said he had been taken advantage of by those who stole the gold toilet from Blenheim Palace.

He said: "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.

James Sheen last month pleaded guilty to burglary and transferring criminal property.

The toilet is the work of artist Maurizio Cattelan and was plumbed in at the palace, near the room where Churchill was born.

It weighed 98kg and was insured for £4.75 million. At the time, gold prices would have made the gold alone worth £2.8 million.