1 month ago
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A man has been found guilty of stealing a fully-functioning £4.75 million 18-carat gold toilet from Blenheim Palace.
Michael Jones, 39, stole the toilet at the at the Oxfordshire country house where Sir Winston Churchill was born in the early hours of September 14 2019.
The day before the theft, Jones also revealed he ‘took advantage of’ the gold toilet’s ‘facilities’ while at the country house.
Asked what it was like, Jones said: ‘Splendid.’
He visited the palace twice before the theft but had denied these were reconnaissance trips.
The toilet was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and was a star attraction in an art exhibition when it was stolen.
James Sheen, 40, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, had already pleaded guilty to burglary.
He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transfer criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property, at Oxford Crown Court in April 2024.
The court previously heard that Jones had worked as a roofer and builder for Sheen from around 2018 and was effectively Sheen’s ‘right-hand man’, being trusted to arrange payments for his friend’s other employees.
Jurors are still deliberating over charges faced by co-defendants Frederick Doe, 36, also known as Frederick Sines, of Winkfield, Windsor, Berkshire, and Bora Guccuk, 41, from west London, who have both denied conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
It is alleged that Doe and Guccuk agreed to help one of the men who carried out the burglary – James Sheen – to sell some of the gold in the following weeks.
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