Gold rest room: Two males jailed for £4.8m Blenheim Palace heist

During sentencing at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, Judge Ian Pringle KC described it a “bold and brazen” heist that took “no more than five-and-a-half minutes to complete”.

Sheen was once a key participant – a occupation prison and the one guy convicted of each housebreaking and promoting the gold.

He pleaded accountable closing 12 months after police discovered his DNA on the scene and gold fragments in his clothes.

Police additionally recovered his telephone which contained a wealth of incriminating messages.

Shan Saunders, the senior crown prosecutor at the case, mentioned it was once “unusual to have a phone that when downloaded contains so much information”.

During the trial, jurors heard voice messages despatched by means of Sheen to Fred Doe, a Berkshire businessman who was once convicted for conspiring to promote the gold in March.

Saunders mentioned deciphering the messages was once “a long and complicated process”, because of the mix of coded language, Romany slang and Cockney rhyming slang used.

In one message, Sheen showed he was once in ownership of one of the gold rest room.

It learn: “I think you know what I’ve got… I’ve just been a bit quiet with it.”

He extensively utilized the phrase “car” as code for gold.

“ The car is what it is mate, innit? The car is as good as money,” he mentioned.

Within two weeks of the heist Sheen had bought 20kg (44lb) of gold – about one 5th of the bathroom’s weight – to an unknown purchaser in Birmingham for £520,000.

A BBC investigation in March published Sheen’s prison historical past.

It discovered he have been jailed no less than six occasions since 2005 and led organised crime teams that had made greater than £5m from fraud and robbery – cash which government had in large part didn’t get well.

There was once no response from both of the boys when their sentences had been learn out.

Sentencing Sheen, Judge Pringle mentioned he had a “truly shocking list of previous convictions”.

Speaking at once to Sheen, he mentioned: “You were almost certainly the figure who carried the sledgehammer on which your DNA was found and which was used to sever the functioning toilet from its connecting pipes.”

Sheen was once already serving a 19-year sentence for earlier crimes, and he’s going to serve the four-year sentence for the heist consecutively.

The pass judgement on mentioned Jones, who labored for Sheen as a roof craftsman, additionally had a “long and unenviable list of previous convictions”.

In the week main as much as the heist he paid two visits to Blenheim.

Just an afternoon previous to the raid, on Sheen’s directions, he booked a timeslot on Blenheim’s web page to make use of the gold rest room.

While within the cubicle, Jones snapped footage of the golden rest room and a lock at the door.

In one of the most trial’s lighter moments he showed he did use rest room, calling the enjoy “splendid”.

Speaking after sentencing Det Supt Bruce Riddell, of Thames Valley Police (TVP), described Sheen because the “driving force behind the burglary, with his motive 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,” he endured.

In October 2019, only one month after the heist, police arrested Sheen and Jones however they had been due to this fact launched. They weren’t charged for any other 4 years.

Det Supt Riddell mentioned: “We arrested 12 people in total in the investigation, and that brings with it a huge amount of digital devices to examine.”

He additionally mentioned it took months for key forensic proof to be recognized and that the investigation was once slowed by means of the pandemic.

The BBC requested the probation provider why Sheen was once now not recalled to jail in October 2019.

The Ministry of Justice mentioned an arrest didn’t essentially imply the culprit had breached their licence prerequisites, and that Sheen was once recalled to jail in May 2020 once there was once proof he had achieved so.

Sheen has remained in jail since May 2020.

Five males had been observed on CCTV sporting out the heist but it surely stays unclear whether or not Jones was once in fact on the raid, which means both 3 or 4 burglars stay at huge.

Det Supt Riddell mentioned he was once “fairly certain” officials knew who two of the opposite burglars had been.

Only 4 of the 12 other people arrested met the evidential threshold to convey fees, in step with the Crown Prosecution Service.

Det Supt Riddell mentioned police had been reviewing the case and appealed for any person with details about the heist to touch TVP.

“I am aware that over the passage of time allegiances may change and it might be that someone out there has that one piece of evidence that may assist us in bring others to justice,” he mentioned.

Doe, from Windsor, Berkshire, was once discovered accountable of conspiring to promote the gold and given a 21-month suspended sentence in May.

Bora Guccuk, a jeweller from London, was once cleared of the similar price at trial.