Four men, accused of breaking into the Blenheim Palace and stealing a £4.8million 18-carat solid gold toilet seat have been put before court.
James Sheen, 39, Michael Jones, 38, Fred Doe, 35, and Bora Guccuk, 39 are facing criminal charges including burglary and conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
The toilet was designed as part of an exhibition by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan but it got stolen from the palace on September 14, 2019, just a day after it had been unveiled.
The statement toilet –dubbed ‘America’ by its artist–was fitted in at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2016 and 100,000 people queued to use it.
It was moved to Blenheim, into a chamber opposite the room where Winston Churchill was born for Cattelan’s first solo UK show in more than 20 years.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Shan Saunders from the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘Criminal proceedings against James Sheen, Michael Jones, Fred Doe and Bora Guccuk [in relation to the theft of a gold toilet from Blenheim Palace in 2019] are now active and they each have the right to a fair trial.
The four men will appear at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on November 28, 2023. SOURCE: Kasatintin.com
