Thieves Stole £2.8m Gold Toilet from Blenheim Palace in Just Five Minutes, Court Hears

TDT | Manama

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A gang of sledgehammer-wielding thieves executed a meticulously planned raid at Blenheim Palace, stealing an 18-carat gold toilet worth £2.8 million in under five minutes, a court has heard.

The fully functional artwork, titled America, was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and was on display at the Oxfordshire country estate—the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill—when it was stolen in September 2019. The toilet, which weighed approximately 98kg, had been insured for $6 million (£4.75 million), prosecutors told Oxford Crown Court.

According to the prosecution, the value of the gold alone was estimated at £2.8 million at the time of the theft. However, the artwork itself has never been recovered, with prosecutors alleging that it was broken down into smaller amounts of gold and sold off.

Overnight Raid and Sledgehammer Attack

Prosecutor Julian Christopher KC detailed how the gang carried out the heist, using stolen vehicles to gain access to the palace grounds.

"The burglary was carefully planned and swiftly carried out," Christopher told the court. "The men, five of them it appears, drove through locked wooden gates into the grounds of Blenheim Palace shortly before 5am in two stolen vehicles—an Isuzu truck and a VW Golf."

He added that the thieves drove across a field, up to the front steps of the palace, and broke in through a window. "They knew precisely where to go, broke down the wooden door to the cubicle where the toilet was fully plumbed in, removed it, leaving water pouring out of the pipes, and drove away. All in all, they spent just five minutes in the building."

The prosecution also revealed that the thieves left their sledgehammers at the scene and later used the term "car" as a codeword when discussing the stolen gold with a Hatton Garden jeweller.

Defendants and Court Proceedings

Michael Jones, 39, from Oxford, has pleaded not guilty to stealing the artwork during the overnight raid on September 14, 2019.

Two other defendants, Frederick Sines, 36, also known as Frederick Doe, from Winkfield, Windsor, Berkshire, and Bora Guccuk, 41, from west London, deny one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

The court heard allegations that Doe and Guccuk assisted James Sheen, another defendant involved in the burglary, in selling some of the stolen gold in the weeks following the heist. Sheen, 40, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, has already pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy to transfer criminal property, and one count of transferring criminal property at Oxford Crown Court in April 2024.