A courtroom in Oxford is currently hearing the bizarre case of the £2.8 million gold toilet theft from Blenheim Palace—a crime so audacious that it could almost be mistaken for a Monty Python sketch.
As reported by The Times UK, three men—Michael Jones, Frederick Doe, and Bora Guccuk—are on trial, accused of stealing the 18-carat, 98kg golden lavatory titled America, a piece created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. The toilet, which was fully plumbed into Blenheim Palace’s facilities, was taken just before 5 a.m. on September 14, 2019.
According to prosecutors, Jones allegedly conducted a reconnaissance trip to the palace, which welcomed nearly a million visitors in 2023, to prepare for the heist. The crime unfolded in a scene caught on CCTV:
- A Volkswagen Golf and an Isuzu pick-up truck broke through the locked gates of the palace.
- The Isuzu sped towards the steps, followed off-camera by the Golf.
- One of the men was handed an implement and rushed towards the east wing, where the artwork was installed.
- Security footage captured the thieves struggling to carry the weighty golden toilet before shoving it into the VW’s boot and speeding off.
Blenheim’s night duty manager, Abel Clarke, testified that he was woken by the fire alarm and loud banging noises. He initially thought the boiler had exploded, only to later discover that the toilet had been ripped from the pipes, leaving water gushing onto the floor.
Despite an insurance valuation of $6 million, the golden lavatory has never been found. The Times UK reported that investigators uncovered messages, voice recordings, and screen grabs suggesting the suspects negotiated a price of £25,632 per kilo for 20kg of the stolen gold.
Jones denies burglary, while Doe and Guccuk deny conspiring to transfer criminal property. With three more weeks left in the trial, the mystery of the missing golden toilet remains unsolved.
