Two men have been jailed at Oxford Crown Court for the theft of a £4.75 million gold toilet from Blenheim Palace.
James Sheen, 40, and Michael Jones, 39, received a four-year prison sentence and a 27-month prison sentence, respectively.
The 18-carat gold toilet, which was fully functioning, was a star attraction in an exhibition at the Oxfordshire country house where Winston Churchill was born.
The satirical piece by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan was stolen in a raid in the early hours of September 14, 2019.
It is believed the stolen toilet was broken up or melted down and sold shortly after the theft, but none of the gold has been recovered.
Sledgehammer-wielding thieves smashed their way in to take the toilet, Oxford Crown Court heard.
They drove through locked wooden gates into the grounds of the palace in two stolen vehicles before breaking in through a window.
Entitled America, the toilet weighed approximately 98 kilogrammes, was insured for six million US dollars (£4.75 million) and was made from gold, which was itself worth about £2.8 million.
Passing sentence, Judge Ian Pringle KC said: “This bold and brazen heist took no more than five-and-a-half minutes to complete.
“America has never been seen again.”
Following a trial in March, jurors at Oxford Crown Court found Jones guilty of burglary.
Jones, from Oxford, had visited the palace twice before the theft, but he denied the visits were related to the theft of the toilet.
He told jurors he “took advantage of” the gold toilet’s “facilities” while at the country house the day before it was taken. Asked what it was like, Jones said: “Splendid.”
Sheen from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, had already pleaded guilty to burglary. In April 2024, he also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transfer criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property.
Sheen was already serving over 19 years’ imprisonment for attacks on cash machines, a museum burglary and fraud and was not due for release until 2032.
“I say straight away I have no doubt at all that the sentence I pass must be consecutive to the sentence you are currently serving,” Judge Ian Pringle KC said in his sentencing remarks. “Not to do so would be to send out a message that you did this without any penalty at all.”
Jones worked as a builder and roofer for Sheen from 2018. The court heard he became Sheen’s “right-hand man” and was trusted to arrange payments for Sheen’s other employees.
When Jones was arrested on October 16, 2019, police analysed his phone and found he had been searching for newspaper reports about the stolen toilet on September 20.
Frederick Doe, 37, also known as Frederick Sines, of Winkfield, Windsor, Berkshire, helped to sell some of the gold in the weeks following the heist, the court heard.
He was found guilty of conspiracy to transfer criminal property and walked free from court in May with a suspended sentence for his part in the raid.
Bora Guccuk, 41, from west London, was cleared of the same charge.
