The heist of artist Maurizio Cattelan’s $6.1 million gold toilet from a British palace was caught on video that was just revealed to the court in the long-awaited criminal trial, as prosecutors explained how the men behind it smashed their way into the palace.
The toilet, made of 18 karat gold, was stolen from Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire in an early morning burglary in September 2019 that took less than five minutes, the Associated Press reported. Police finally arrested the men in November 2023.
At the time of the theft, the installation, named America, had been fully attached to the mansion’s plumbing as part of an exhibition. Its removal caused major flooding and water damage when it was ripped from the plumbing, and it is believed to have since been chopped up and sold.
“The work of art was never recovered,” Julian Christopher, the senior barrister prosecuting the case, told the court. “It appears to have been split up into smaller amounts of gold and never recovered.”
In the footage that was released, black-clad men are captured carrying parts of the latrine to an idling blue car. The objects are loaded into the vehicle’s trunk before it speeds off.
The trial for three of five people accused of partaking in the heist finally began Monday in Oxford Crown Court, the BBC reported. Those men are 39-year-old Michael Jones, who pleaded not guilty to a burglary charge, as well as 36-year-old Fred Doe and 41-year-old Bora Guccuk, who both pleaded not guilty to conspiring to transfer criminal property.
Christopher called the heist an “audacious raid” as he explained to the court how the men barreled through the locked gates of the palace in two stolen vehicles and smashed their way into the building with sledgehammers.
Christopher accused the defendant Jones of scouting the property in the weeks ahead of the heist, visiting once before the toilet was installed and once afterward. During his surveillance, Jones snapped pictures of the window the men smashed to break in and the lock on the toilet door.
“There can be no doubt that he was carrying out reconnaissance for the burglary that was to take place that night,” Christopher said. “That would be enough to make him guilty of count one of burglary.”
The aftermath of the theft of Maurizio Cattelan’s functional golden toilet sculpture America from Blenheim Palace in 2019. Photo by Tom Lindboe for the Blenheim Art Foundation.
A fourth man named James Sheen, 40, previously pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy and transferring criminal property. While reports have indicated that five men were involved in the theft, the identity of the fifth person appears not to have been publicly disclosed.
Sheen, a builder whom Jones had worked for, confessed to being part of the burglary and the effort to sell the gold.
Christopher told The Art Newspaper that the trial is expected to take four weeks. Artnet News has reached out to the Crown Prosecutor Service for more information and additional comment but did not hear back by press time.
