Ladbible X Whatsapp
  • iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Shocking footage shows moment thieves run off with £4.75 million gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace

Home> News> UK News

Updated 09:27 26 Feb 2025 GMTPublished 08:27 26 Feb 2025 GMT

Shocking footage shows moment thieves run off with £4.75 million gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace

The piece of art was part of an exhibition back in 2019

Jess Battison

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.

Advert

The gold toilet was worth millions. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
The gold toilet was worth millions. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

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.

Advert

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.

Advert

It was part of Maurizio Cattelan's UK exhibition at Blenheim Palace. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
It was part of Maurizio Cattelan's UK exhibition at Blenheim Palace. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

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.

Advert

“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.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Art, Crime, UK News

Jess Battison
Jess Battison

Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include asking everyone in the office what they're having for tea, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021.

X

@jessbattison_

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Shocking moment tourist tears hole in ‘priceless’ 18th century painting while posing for selfie
  • Shocking footage shows grandmother and boy, 5, blown two miles out to sea on lilo
  • New video shows shocking moment cargo ship smashes into US oil tanker off UK coast
  • Shocking footage shows man jumping out of moving rollercoaster in 'life-saving' moment

Choose your content:

23 mins ago
an hour ago
12 hours ago
  • 23 mins ago

    Disney cruise passengers reveal terrifying sound they heard as girl fell overboard before dad dived in after her

    Both the father and daughter were rescued 'within minutes', Disney Cruise Line confirmed

    News
  • an hour ago

    MP reveals UK 'target' following Russia's chilling WW3 ultimatum to Brits

    Luke Pollard said the area is now a 'regular topic of conversation'

    News
  • an hour ago

    Murder suspect Bryan Kohberger to plead guilty to killing four Idaho students in bid to avoid death penalty

    Students Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were killed in 2022

    News
  • 12 hours ago

    Man, 92, found guilty of murder of woman nearly 60 years ago in UK's 'longest cold case'

    75-year-old Louisa Dunne was murdered in her Bristol home in 1967

    News