A 40-year-old man from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, has been found guilty of stealing a gold toilet in 2019. According to the BBC, James Sheen was among five people who stole a solid gold toilet, approximately Rs 42.5 crore, from Blenheim Palace in UK’s Oxfordshire.
The heist happened in September 2019 when the fully functional toilet was placed in the palace as part of the art exhibition.
According to the BBC, the trial is underway at the Oxford court and the gold has never been recovered. The report added that it is believed to have been melted down.
Three suspects were detained in connection with the burglary. The 39-year-old Michael Jones of Divinity Road, Oxford, has denied the burglary charge. Fred Doe, formerly known as Frederick Sines, 36, of Windsor, and Bora Guccuk, 41, of West London, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
Prosecutor Julian Christopher KC informed the court that on September 14, 2019, a group of five people in two cars drove through the locked gates of Blenheim Palace and used sledgehammers to smash their way inside. Mr Christopher told the court that the entire raid lasted five minutes.
The 18-carat gold toilet, titled America, was displayed in an exhibition by Maurizio Cattelan, an Italian conceptual artist.
It was insured for $6 million (approx. Rs 50 crore) and weighed 98 kg. The court was informed that, given the gold prices at the time, the gold alone would have been worth £2.8 million (approx. Rs 30 crore) in September 2019.
A number of voice notes, messages, and screenshots were found on the phones of Mr Sheen, Mr Doe, and Mr Guccuk revealing they had negotiated a price of £25,632 (approx. Rs 27 lakh) per kilogram for about 20 kg of the stolen gold.
Mr Guccuk, the owner of the jewellers Pacha of London in Hatton Garden, was said to have made a profit of around £3,000 (Rs 3.2 lakh) for each kilogram of jewellery he sold.
The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.
