LONDON: A British court on Tuesday (Mar 18) found two men guilty over the theft of a solid gold toilet from an English country house.
The fully functioning 18-carat convenience was stolen five years ago in a raid on an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace near Oxford.
The artwork – dubbed America – was one of the star attractions of an exhibition by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan at the 18th-century stately home, the birthplace of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.
Jurors at Oxford Crown Court found Michael Jones, 39, guilty of burglary, and Frederick Doe, 36, guilty of conspiracy to transfer criminal property on Tuesday.
The court previously heard that the overnight raid on Sep 14, 2019 took just five minutes, with sledgehammers left at the scene.
Earlier this year a prosecutor said it was made from gold worth around £2.8 million (US$3.5 million) at the time, before it was split up into parts that were not recovered.
Jones previously said he used the toilet at Blenheim Palace the day before it was taken.
Asked what it was like, he told the court it was “splendid.”
Another man, 40-year-old James Sheen, has already pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy to transfer criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property.
Defendant Bora Guccuk, 41, was found not guilty of transferring criminal property.
Shan Saunders of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “This was an audacious raid which had been carefully planned and executed – but those responsible were not careful enough, leaving a trail of evidence in the form of forensics, CCTV footage and phone data.”
“While none of the gold was ever recovered – no doubt having been broken up or melted down and sold on soon after it was stolen – we are confident this prosecution has played a part in disrupting a wider crime and money laundering network,” Saunders added.
Doe will be sentenced on May 19 while a date has not been set for Jones and Sheen’s sentencing.
