Jess Battison
Shocking CCTV footage shows the moment thieves ran off with a toilet from Blenheim Palace.
And you might be thinking, why bother stealing the bog from such a place when there’s surely better options? Well, this wasn’t just any toilet - it was a £4.75 million gold toilet.
Shown to jurors, the footage sees two cars tear across the lawn towards the palace in the early hours of 14 September 2019.
Three men then made their way inside the historical house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, before reappearing five minutes later, rolling the 18-carat-gold toilet away. And weighing in at a whopping 98kg, it caused the blue VW Golf’s car suspension to sag.
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Fully functioning, the piece of art loo was insured for $6 million (£4.75 million) and entitled America.
Created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, it had been installed as an artwork at the country house Winston Churchill was born.
In the CCTV, one of the group can be seen clutching the golden toilet seat, which also got thrown into the back of their escape vehicle.
Once a star attraction in the exhibition, it is believed the golden bog was broken up after it was stolen.
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Before the raid took place, the Duke of Marlborough’s half-brother, Edward Spencer-Churchill, said the toilet wouldn’t be ‘the easiest thing to nick’.
Mr Spencer-Churchill told the Times: “Firstly, it’s plumbed in and secondly, a potential thief will have no idea who last used the toilet or what they ate.
“So no, I don’t plan to be guarding it.”
Critics had described the artwork as a pointed satire against the excesses of wealth.
As the two cars sped away from the scene, palace security guards who had been watching on CCTV chased them on foot.
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Michael Jones, 39, pleaded not guilty in January to stealing artwork in an overnight raid in the early hours of September 14, 2019. And Frederick Sines, 36, also known as Frederick Doe, and Bora Guccuk, 41, each deny one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
It is alleged those two agreed to help another man who is said to have carried out the burglary, a defendant called James Sheen, to sell some of the gold in the following weeks.
Jurors were told thieves had driven through locked wooden gates into the Palace grounds before breaking 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,” prosecutor Julian Christopher KC said previously.
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“Clearly such an audacious raid would not have been possible without lots of preparation.”
And within days of that raid, two men were using the codeword ‘car’ and allegedly made contact with a Hatton Garden jeweller.
With the trial continuing, the court also heard how Jones had made ‘two reconnaissance visits’ to the palace.