A British court has heard in a bizarre case that thieves have stolen a solid gold toilet worth £4.8 million from Blenheim Palace.
If its value is estimated in Pakistani rupees, it is more than Rs 1.7 billion. The court was also told that the thieves stole the toilet in just five minutes.
The case began about six years ago when an exhibition was held in a luxurious house in Oxfordshire in September 2019 and this solid gold toilet was installed in the building. This toilet was fully functional, meaning it could be used for defecation.
Michael Jones from Oxford, has denied the theft. Other defendants, Fred Doe, and Bora Gokic, from west London, have also denied any role in the theft. Oxford Crown Court heard that the toilet was likely broken during the theft and could not be repaired.
Prosecutor Julian Christopher told the court that in the early hours of September 14, 2019, five men broke through the locked doors of Blenheim Palace with hammers and entered the building. All five men were in two vehicles. The court was told that the hammers used to break the door were left at the scene.
Julian Christopher also told the court that a photograph of the toilet was taken about 17 hours before it was stolen and that Mr Jones took the picture while he was ‘planning the theft.’Mr Christopher told the court that the theft of the toilet took just five minutes.
He added that ‘the art piece has not been recovered. It appears to have been broken into small pieces of gold and will never be found.’ the court was told that the fourth suspect in the theft was 40-year-old James Sheen. He pleaded guilty in April 2024 to conspiracy to steal the toilet and to transfer the stolen toilet. The 18-carat gold toilet was part of an exhibition by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, entitled ‘America’.
The toilet weighed 98kg and was insured for £6m. The court was told that the value of the solid gold used in the toilet alone was £2.8m at the time, in September 2019. The prosecutor said that messages, voice notes, and screen grabs from the phones of Mr. Shen, Mr Du, and Mr Gokic showed that the three had negotiated a price of £25,632 per kilo for around 20kg of gold.
The court was also told that Mr. Gokic ran a jewelry shop in Hatton Garden and that he would have made a profit of around £3,000 per kilo on the deal. Blenheim Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the birthplace of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. The trial is still ongoing.
