Posted on 03/22/2025 6:27:02 AM PDT by xxqqzz
Now they’re headed to the can!
A British bandit and his accomplice were convicted Tuesday of snatching a $6.2 million golden toilet from the English country mansion where Winston Churchill was born then reselling parts of the precious potty.
Michael Jones, 39, swiped the gleaming 18-karat-gold loo in under five minutes during a wild heist at Blenheim Palace in 2019 — then teamed up with Frederick Doe, 38, to resell parts of the artwork, the Oxford Crown Court found.
Michael Jones in a blue coat leaving Oxford Magistrates' Court, following charges over the theft of a gold toilet from Blenheim Palace
America", a solid gold, fully functioning toilet created by artist Maurizio Cattelan, displayed at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, England on September 12, 2019.
The purloined potty has never been recovered but is believed to have been cut up and sold.
Jones, of Oxford, made off with the fully functional 215-pound john on Sept. 14, 2019 — just a day after Jones used it while doing “reconnaissance” work at the palace.
During the loo-dicrous pre-dawn heist, Jones and James Sheen, 40, smashed a window and yanked the golden throne from its plumbing — leaving behind flood damage as they zoomed away in stolen vehicles.
“This was an audacious raid which had been carefully planned and executed,” prosecutor Shan Saunders said during the trial. “But those responsible were not careful enough.”
Their scheme went down the drain when investigators found “a trail of evidence in the form of forensics, CCTV footage and phone data,” Saunders said.
Jones was found guilty Tuesday of burglary, and Doe was convicted of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Someone broke in a stole the toilet to sell the gold. The toilet was never recovered. Apparently the accomplice involved in selling the gold is act is actually named Doe.
I toured Blenheim palace back in 1992. Great place to visit!
I knew a guy who had one of his toilets fitted out like a throne. It was pretty funny. It actually worked too.
This was certainly an Au-dacious raid.
Sheen, 40, previously pleaded guilty to burglary in connection with the crime.
The men named Doe and Sheen saw the shiny loo-t and thought they were good to go.
“But those responsible were not careful enough.”
SOLID gold? Sure. Uh huh.
It is too bad Churchill is lionized. So sad!!
Nothing says “Mega-Rich” like having a golden crapper.
This tops the old story of the high school homecoming queen who married a wealthy plumber and now she’s sittin’ pretty.
Those loo-d lewd ruffians hoped to be flush with cash but it seems their future has tanked.
I suspect it was only gold-plated. If not you'd have needed a forklift to remove it.
Either that or they used a roll cart or rolling platform of some kind.
“Hey! Where are you going with that golden toilet?”
“No need for alarm ma’am, we are taking it put for repairs”
If they could have pulled that off, they'd have been flush with cash.
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Meanwhile the rest of us have to be satisfied with our fiat toilets.
Did you happen to use the golden throne while there?
Clearly they are a different specie of criminal.
They should also be tried for performing plumbing without a license. :^)
And stolen vehicles for the heist? Everyone knows the Range Rover is for kitchen appliances, what a bunch of amateurs.
The Wet Bandits left their calling card.
No.
Winston Churchill was the eldest son of an "Honorable", a man who had no title of his own. And he did not grow up at Blenheim.
So basically everything you wrote is wrong.
It’s too bad you are such a moron. So sad.
I the gold was worth $6 million at about $3000/ounce, that is about 2000 ounces or 125 pounds. A toilet typically weighs about 60 pounds. So it was probably solid gold. The gold weighs more, but might be thinner.
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