PHOTO: Four Men Charged Over Theft Of £4.8m Gold Toilet From Blenheim Palace 

Four men have been charged over the theft of a gold toilet valued at £4.8m, which vanished from Blenheim Palace in an overnight raid in September 2019.

The art installation, entitled America, was part of an exhibition by the Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Monday it had authorised criminal charges against four men, who will appear at Oxford magistrates court on 28 November.

The toilet, which could be used with a three-minute time limit to avoid queues, had only been on show for two days when it was stolen.

It had been installed as an artwork at the Oxfordshire palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, when it disappeared. As it was plumbed in at the time, its removal caused flooding and damage to the 18th-century stately home and Unesco world heritage site in Woodstock.

The statement toilet had in 2016 been fitted at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, where 100,000 people queued to use it. It was moved to Blenheim and into a chamber opposite the room where Churchill was born, for Cattelan’s first solo UK show in more than 20 years.

Speaking at the time of the theft, Cattelan said he hoped the theft was a prank and asked: “Who’s so stupid to steal a toilet? [The work titled] America was the 1% for the 99%.”

Blenheim Palace is the ancestral seat of the Duke of Marlborough. Before the toilet’s installation, the duke’s half-brother, Edward Spencer-Churchill, founder of the Blenheim Art Foundation, said the lavatory would not be “the easiest thing to nick”. He told the Times: “Firstly, it’s plumbed in; and secondly, a potential thief will have no idea who last used the toilet or what they ate. So no, I don’t plan to be guarding it.”

Dominic Hare, the chief executive of Blenheim Palace, said at the time he hoped the “pointless” act of stealing would immortalise the work. He added that it was deeply ironic for the work “portraying the American dream” and the elite object made available to all was “instantly snatched away and hidden from view”.

The four charged are James Sheen, 39, of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, who is accused of one count of burglary, one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property.

Michael Jones, 38, from Oxford, has been charged with one count of burglary; while Fred Doe, 35, from Ascot, Berkshire, and Bora Guccuk, 39, from west London, have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

Senior crown prosecutor Shan Saunders from the CPS said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised charges in relation to the theft of a gold toilet from Blenheim Palace in 2019. Criminal proceedings against James Sheen, Michael Jones, Fred Doe and Bora Guccuk are now active and they each have the right to a fair trial.

“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”