Prosecutor says golden toilet was stolen from English palace in ‘audacious raid’

LONDON (AP) - It was not your typical smash-and-grab burglary and the booty was precious: a toilet worth more than its weight in gold.

The one-of-a-kind 18-carat gold toilet was swiped in under five minutes from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born, in the predawn hours of Sept. 14, 2019, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.

Attorney Julian Christopher said in his opening statement in Oxford Crown Court that it was an "audacious raid." One of three men on trial in the case of the purloined potty was involved in stealing it and the other two helped to sell the spoils.

The toilet has never been recovered but is believed to have been cut up and sold.

The satirical work, titled "America" by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, poked fun at excessive wealth. It weighed just over 215 pounds (98 kilograms) and was insured for 4.8 million pounds ($6 million). The value of the gold at the time was 2.8 million ($3.5 million).

The piece had previously been on display at The Guggenheim Museum in New York. The museum had offered the work to U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term in office after he had asked to borrow a Van Gogh painting.

One of the defendants, Michael Jones, cased the palace twice in the weeks leading up to the theft - once before the toilet went on display at Blenheim Palace and up close and personal once it was installed and fully functional as an exhibit, Christopher said. Visitors to the exhibition could book a three-minute appointment to use the toilet.

Both times, Jones took photos of the window that was later smashed to break into the palace. The second time he also took photos from inside the bathroom, including a photo of 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."

But Jones was also probably among the group of five men who crashed through the wooden gates of the palace before dawn the next morning in two stolen vehicles, Christopher said. They tore across a field in an Isuzu truck and VW Golf and pulled up to the front steps, where they smashed the window Jones had photographed.

They made quick work of breaking down the toilet door and removed the golden throne from the plumbing, leaving water gushing from the pipes that caused considerable damage to the 18th-century building, a UNESCO World Heritage site filled with valuable art and furniture that draws thousands of visitors each year.

Jones was in cahoots with James Sheen, a builder he worked for who was part of both the burglary and the effort to sell the gold, Christopher said. Sheen, 40, previously pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy and transferring criminal property.

Sheen then worked to broker a deal with Fred Doe and Bora Guccuk to cash in on the haul. In a series of text messages, he referred to the loot as a "car," but Christopher said he was actually talking about the gold.

"I'll link up with ya, I got something right up your path,” Sheen told Doe in one message.

"I can sell that car for you in two seconds … so come and see me tomorrow,” Doe said in a reply.

Doe, 36, and Guccuk, 41, are charged with one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

All the defendants have pleaded not guilty.