Gold toilet: Two men jailed for £4.8m Blenheim Palace heist
Two men have been jailed for the theft of a £4.8m gold toilet from from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace.Thieves smashed their way in and ripped out the functional 18-carat, solid gold toilet, hours after a glamorous launch party at the Oxfordshire stately home in September 2019.James 'Jimmy' Sheen, 40, pleaded guilty to burglary, transferring criminal property and conspiracy to do the same in 2024, while Michael Jones, 39, was found guilty of burglary in March. The men, from Oxford, were sentenced to four years and two-and-a-half years in prison, respectively.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
37 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Fears Russia will sink its own ships in a 'false flag' and blame the West after the Kremlin accused Britain of preparing 'mass raids'
Russia is feared to be preparing false flag attacks on its shadow fleet of sea vessels in order to deter the West from further sanctioning them. According to the Telegraph, a report from the SVR, Moscow 's foreign intelligence service, claimed that the UK was plotting to attack Russia's fleet of ships used to subvert sanctions. The SVR said that the attacks would be designed to look like accidents, causing significant environmental damage and allowing the UK and the rest of NATO to justify further actions against them. The report claimed: 'British intelligence services are planning to use NATO allies to launch a mass raid on the "shadow fleet"; for this purpose, an ecological catastrophe in international waters is being prepared.' But experts said the report's publication raised concerns that Russia is preparing its own false flag operation, a scheme carried out by the Kremlin but designed to look like it has British origins. Dr Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at RUSI, told the newspaper: 'One interpretation might be that the Russians are insuring themselves against something breaking down or sinking, in a way that creates a pretext for restricting [their movement across the ocean].' So far, at least six tankers have suffered mysterious explosions since the start of the year. The suspicion has largely fallen on Ukraine, as all of the tankers were docked in Russian ports. Some of them were carrying Russian oil. It comes after the National Crime Agency (NCA) warned UK financial firms that Russian oil trading companies are utilising a complex network of companies with deliberately obscure ownership structures in order to evade sanctions. Britain has banned the maritime transportation of Russian oil as its energy exports are funding the war in Ukraine. In 2024, 30 per cent of Russia's federal budget came from oil and gas sales. But Russian oil trading companies are managing to circumvent sanctions to get Western cash which is continuing to fund the Russian state, investigators believe. One of the companies sanctioned last year used over 100 Shadow Fleet oil tankers, vessels which are usually over 15 years old which secretly carry Russian oil. To avoid detection, flags are regularly changed and the ship's automatic identification system is turned off to avoid its movements being tracked, while the oil is often transferred from one ship to another to obscure its origin before the shipment reaches its destination. Over 400 Shadow Fleet vessels have so far been sanctioned by the UK, EU, US and Canada. An NCA spokesman said: 'Today, the National Crime Agency has issued an alert to financial institutions and other members of the UK regulated sector in relation to the sale of Russian oil and gas through the use of Shadow Fleet vessels and front companies. 'Sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine have had a significant impact on its ability to sell oil and gas it produces. 'However, in an effort to circumvent these controls, Russian oil trading companies are utilising a complex network of companies with deliberately obscure ownership structures to evade sanctions whilst accessing Western finance and professional services in order to continue to fund the Russian state.'
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Prison system came 'within days of collapse' - and not just once
The prison system was close to collapse on a number of occasions between autumn 2023 and summer 2024, an independent review by former chief inspector of prisons, Dame Anne Owers, has found. The report, which was published on Tuesday, said there was a systemic problem which has led to recurring prison capacity crises over the last 18 years. Dame Anne warned there is an urgent need for senior staff in the justice system to move from crisis management to a more strategic approach to avoid repeated issues. The report also stressed the importance of having enough capacity in probation and other community services, as they are critical to prevent offending and reoffending. The report, which was commissioned by Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood in February, also detailed the financial cost of the crisis. It found the price of holding prisoners in police cells reached over £70m, while construction costs for new prisons nearly doubled to £10.1bn. 0:33 Prisons struggling to 'work effectively and safely' Dame Anne said: "The scale, likelihood, risks, and consequences of the prison capacity crisis could not have been signalled more clearly, at every level of government. "The response was last-minute short-term fixes rather than long-term solutions to the underlying problems." She said the crises had spanned successive governments, and "seriously affected prisons' ability to work effectively and safely". Rather than just invest in prisons themselves, the government should pour more money into community provision to help reduce offending and reoffending, she added. Other recommendations include: • Putting in place a 10-year plan for capacity in probation and community services • Setting up an independent body to provide advice and check the plans of prison and probation services • Getting the HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Board to evaluate the Prison Service 2:28 'Close to total collapse' Ms Mahmood, the justice secretary, said: "This report lays bare the disgraceful way the last Conservative government ran our prisons. "They added less than 500 cells to the prison estate over 14 years, released over 10,000 prisoners early under a veil of secrecy, and brought our jails close to total collapse on countless occasions."
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
A year after I was surrounded in Birmingham, have community rifts healed?
As riots broke out across the country last summer following the Southport attack, fear spread in a majority Muslim part of Birmingham that far-right protesters were on their way. Locals came out on to the streets, and as I was reporting live on air, I was surrounded by a small group of masked men, swearing and gesturing to the camera. Afterwards, as we were trying to drive away from the area, a man with a knife followed us and attempted to slash a tyre on our broadcast van. A year on, I have returned to the area to discuss what happened with some of those who saw their city descend into chaos. "The local community had lost faith in the local elected members as well as the local policing units," says Naeem Yousef, 48, who lives nearby. "They thought…the only way to protect themselves and the community was by coming out in force." 'You can't control their behaviour' Tanveer Choudhry, 56, agrees. "In every community we have our sort of, shall we call them… idiots, and you can't control their behaviour," he says. "I think there was a concern that the far-right group that was coming may well be armed… so I think it was just trying to counteract what they thought was coming." We are sitting in a cafe, not far from where the unrest broke out last summer. 'They were looking for who they thought were the enemy' The group I'm with were invited by community activist Naveed Sadiq, who was there that day. As well as Naveed, there are three other local Muslim men, and two white residents, including Gerry Moynihan. He recalls deciding to stay at home that day. "They were looking for what they thought were the enemy - white people - and trying to find white people," he says. "Which is why I stayed in my house, because the intelligence I had was, don't get involved, don't walk around, and you know, it will pass." I ask the group if my team and I were targeted because we were white. "It's not because you're white, it's because they're actually bored," Naveed says. "They were wanting a bit of excitement." I ask if they think it would have happened if we were all British Asian. "Of course," Tanveer replies. "It wasn't the fact that you were white… it was just the heat of the moment". Naeem believes it happened simply because the men involved "do not want anyone filming what they're doing". "You could have been Asian… they would still try to get you out of the area," he insists. 'Are we going to be accepted?' I'm keen to understand how these men feel now and whether the sentiment that brought people out on to the streets to "protect" them has been reignited by the recent protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers. The answer, from Joe Khann, a local Muslim man, would surprise many. "I would like to go and join them," he says, referring to the anti-immigration protesters who have gathered several times in Epping. "We have this problem within our own communities, and people don't talk about it. We feel exactly the same and we understand how the English feel with the immigration," he explains. "We're having people who are getting married back home, they get married for six months, get divorced…and the government gives them all their help to get accommodation, their national insurance numbers and all that," he says. "We're getting fed up within our own community because we hear this constantly." However, he thinks if he did try to join in protests, people would "think I'm an immigrant". He says he is "born here, 58, and they look at me as a foreigner or a migrant". Naeem agrees. "The question is for us now, as people who are born and bred in this country, what is our identity? Who are we?" he asks. "As a white person born in this country, you are automatically accepted. Are we going to be accepted? How many generations will it take for us to be accepted?" 'You have to blame someone' Naeem is also concerned about immigration. "We have an influx of people that we do not know about, and they have no loyalty to the area," he says. "I believe that the average white guy… isn't racist, they're just fed up," adds Naveed. However, these men do have grievances, particularly with the media. "We feel that we have a two-tier journalists system where when the colour is like mine we get different justice and when the colour is a bit paler it's different," Naveed says. 'We have become the bogeyman' "When there's criminality, and it's on the news, a Muslim has to be identified by his religion," Naeem says. He believes Muslims have become the "bogeyman" in many people's minds. "Where you don't have housing for example, where the crime has increased, you have to blame someone," he says. "Prior it was the Irish community, now it's the Muslim community. "It's a distraction from the actual real issues and how you can resolve them but let's just put it on to the Muslim community for now, let's just distract the whole nation and say look it's the problem with asylum, it's a problem with Muslims," he says. After leaving, I head over to the spot on the roundabout where my team were targeted last year. As I stand there, my colleague sees a man imitating pulling the trigger of a gun at me from his car.
