Four men charged in the missing gold toilet case

Four years ago, a fully functioning 18-carat gold toilet was stolen from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace, Winston Churchill’s birthplace.

On Monday, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced it had approved charges against four men in connection with the theft of the Golden Toilet – an artwork by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, entitled ‘America’, which was on display as part of an exhibition in the palace, which is located in Oxfordshire, England.

The Public Prosecution Service said this in a press release that it had charged James Sheen, 39, with burglary, conspiracy to transfer criminal property and transferring criminal property; Michael Jones, 38, with burglary; and Fred Doe, 35, and Bora Guccuk, 39, with conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

The four men will appear in court in Oxford, England, on November 28 for the first phase of a potentially lengthy criminal proceeding. The British legal system has a serious disadvantage in cases.

The toilet, which was valued at £4.8 million, or about $5.9 million, made headlines worldwide long before the theft. In 2016, Mr. Cattelan installed it at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, where it became a social media sensation, with visitors lining up to see it.

In September 2019 it was installed as part of the exhibition of Mr Cattelan’s work at Blenheim Palace, the stately home of Churchill’s family. The toilet had been installed and its removal, apparently during an early morning raid, caused a minor flood.

Shortly after the robbery, Mr. Cattelan told The New York Times in an email that his first reaction was that he thought it was a prank. “Who is stupid enough to steal a toilet?” he said. He “for a moment forgot it was made of gold,” he added.

Mr Cattelan later said the toilet was one of three versions made.