The two men who were found guilty of the theft of Maurizio Cattelan’s gold toilet from Blenheim Palace, UK, in 2019 have been jailed for their roles in the robbery. James Sheen, 40, and Michael Jones, 39, were sentenced at Oxford crown court last week.
Jones, who was convicted by a jury in March of burglary, was given a 27-month prison sentence. Sheen was jailed for four years; his sentence will run consecutively to the 19 years and four-month sentence he is serving for attacks on cash machines, a museum burglary and fraud.
Sheen pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to burglary, transferring criminal property and conspiracy to transfer criminal property (his DNA was found both on a sledgehammer left at the scene and in the stolen Isuzu truck used in the raid).
Cattelan’s fully functioning 18-carat gold lavatory (America, 2016) was removed from an exhibition of the Italian artist's work at the 18th-century stately home on 14 September 2019 in a heist involving five men. The toilet was insured for £4.8m.
Passing sentence, Judge Ian Pringle KC said: “This bold and brazen heist took no more than five-and-a-half minutes to complete. America has never been seen again.” Thames Valley Police believe that the toilet was taken to multiple locations, melted down and sold off within hours of the theft. “Between 15 and 28 September [2019], Sheen then made plans to sell the gold; it is believed to have been moved to different locations,” a statement said.
Another man involved in the theft of the gold toilet was given a suspended sentence at Oxford crown court last month. Frederick Doe, 37, also known as Frederick Sines, from Windsor, was convicted by a jury in March of conspiring to transfer criminal property and was accused of trying to broker the sale of around ten kilograms of the stolen gold.
A fourth man, Bora Guccuk, 39, from west London, was found not guilty of conspiracy to convert or transfer criminal property.
