The Great Drain Robbery: Gang guilty of stealing £4.8m gold toilet from Blenheim Palace

18 March 2025, 16:02 | Updated: 18 March 2025, 18:35

A gang has been convicted over the theft of a £4.8m gold toilet from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace.

The toilet, which was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a star attraction in an exhibition when it was stolen by sledgehammer-wielding thieves who smashed their way into the palace.

Michael Jones was found guilty today of planning the burglary. Fred Doe was convicted of conspiring to sell the gold, while Bora Guccuk was cleared of the same charge.

Doe, 36, also known as Frederick Sines, of Winkfield, Windsor, Berkshire was found guilty by majority verdict at Oxford Crown Court of conspiracy to transfer criminal property after £4.75m theft.

Jones, 39, was found guilty of burglary. Doe helped one of the men who pleaded guilty to carrying out the burglary - James Sheen - to sell some of the gold in the following weeks, the court heard.

Bora Guccuk, 41, from west London, was found not guilty of the same charge.

The men had apparently planned the raid in detail, and stole the fully functioning toilet weighing 98kg in less than five minutes.

Within days of the raid, two men were using "car" as a codeword for the stolen gold via WhatsApp messages, and contact was made with a Hatton Garden jeweller, the prosecution said.

It is believed that the distinctive toilet, entitled America, which had been installed as an artwork at the Oxfordshire country house where Sir Winston Churchill was born, has now been split up and disposed of, Oxford Crown Court was told.

A spokesman for Blenheim Palace said: “We are extremely pleased that, five years after the theft of Maurizio Cattelan’s artwork ‘America’, three individuals have been brought to justice. 

“We would like to thank Thames Valley Police for their tireless work on this case and the highly professional way they have conducted their investigation into the theft from Blenheim Palace.”