Two men have been found guilty of theft of a £4.8 million gold toilet from the Oxfordshire Country House, where Winston Churchill was born.
The 18-carat bathroom at Brenheim Palace was stolen in September 2019, appeared at an art exhibition, and is believed to have been split and disposed of.
Oxford native Michael Jones was convicted Tuesday of planning a robbery plot that took place early in the morning. He had visited the palace twice before theft, but denied that these were scouting trips.
He previously told the ju apprentice at Oxford Crown Court that he had “used” the “facility” of gold toilets. When I asked what it was, he replied: “Great.”
The court heard that Jones worked as a roofer, builder and “right arm” for James Sheen, 40, of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.
Another man, Frederick Daw, 36, was found guilty of a conspiracy to transfer criminal property on Tuesday, helping Sheen sell some of the money a few weeks after the robbery. Bora Guccuk, 39, from West London, has been found to be not the same charge.
The fully functional toilet, created by Italian artist Maurizio Catterran, was plumbed at the time of the robbery, and its removal led to flooding, causing damage to the imposing 18th century home and the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The toilet weighing about 98kg was installed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2016, where 100,000 people lined up for use. It moved to Blenheim and to the room opposite the room where Churchill was born for the first solo British show of the Cateran in over 20 years.
Catteran created sculptures called “America,” reflecting the overabundance of the arts market and evoked the American dream of opportunity for all.
At the time of the theft, he says he wants the theft to be a prank and says, “Who's that stupid to steal a toilet? [The work titled] In the US, it was 1%, or 99%. ”
Blenheim Palace is the seat of the ancestors of Duke Marlborough. Before the toilet installation, Edward Spencer Churchill, founder of the Brenheim Art Foundation, Duke's half-brother, said the bathroom was not “the easiest thing for Nick.”
He told the Times:
The robbery took place at 4:50am at 4:50am, with two stolen vehicles, the VW Golf and the Isos Truck, speeding into the palace grounds.
Three robbers armed with sledgehammers and clover break into the palace, sprinting through hard wooden doors, tearing the toilet from their fixtures.
They carried the toilet out of the palace, rolled it along the ground and put it in VW's boots.
The next day, Sheen made plans to sell the gold. This is believed to have been moved to various locations and melted within hours of the attack.
According to Thames Valley police, Doe contacted Sheen and offered to find a gold buyer and brokered the deal. During the transaction, both men called the gold sticks “cars” and each called the value of £26,000.
Jones was arrested on October 16, 2019, and police analyzed his phone. He was reportedly searching for newspaper reports about toilets that were stolen on September 20th, ju-deputies were previously reported.
The DOE will be declared on May 19th. Jones and Sheen will be declared at a later date.
Det Supt Bruce Riddell, director of the Thames Valley Police Department's Specialist Operations Division, said the conviction was the result of a huge amount of police work, and additional investigations still seek to recover assets related to Sheen's previous crimes.
After the previous conviction, Sheen's serious crime prevention order has already been obtained, and will be introduced for five years upon release from prison.
“As part of the investigation, many other arrests were made, but no further accusations were brought about. It is clear that there are others involved in the crime,” Liddell said.
“They're making the most of the time,” said Shan Sanders of the Crown Prosecutor's Office. “It was a bold, carefully planned and executed attack, but the person responsible for it left a trajectory of evidence in the form of forensic medicine, CCTV footage and telephone data.
“It's a complicated case for prosecution and includes a national investigation with many lines of investigation to identify those who have been subsequently charged with theft.
“None of the gold was recovered, but it was definitely stolen and melted quickly and sold, but I'm sure this prosecutor is involved in disrupting the wider crime and money laundering network.”
