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 ...
Musician Todd Rundgren's estate on Kauai (Hawaii) has a house with a toilet built up like a throne. I had the opportunity to visit the place years ago and use it (it's fully functional, just a little weird, not unlike Todd).
Churchill’s golden toilet? How Trump would love to have that!
Churchill was a great PM. Too bad he was never in line for the throne.
Snakes -- they thought they could slip away with it.
And stolen vehicles for the heist? Everyone knows the Range Rover is for kitchen appliances, what a bunch of amateurs.
🤣
Au-di was the way to go.
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
Fail. If he'd only gone with *John* Doe, but alas, he was No. 2.
A toilet is made of about one half a cubic foot of ceramic or about 75 pounds.
A half a cubic foot of gold would be about 600 pounds.
It was plated.
Probably not.
They probably installed it in an East London flat for their own personal use--and who could blame them?
You are right, it was probably copper or something with gold plating. Still it must have contained a significant amount of gold, and as you imply a small amount could have a significant weight and value.
Someone must have had a lot of money to have a toilet like that put in. That is really money to burn. I think Churchill’s mother was American, and presumably very wealthy marrying a duke.
The person who married money for restoration of Blenheim Palace was the ninth Duke of Marlborough (cousin of Winston Churchill) who married Consuelo Vanderbilt.
What a cruel heist! I imagine there are people at Blenheim Palace right now dancing around like Nureyev.
Looks like a standard floor mounted flush valve water closet that has been covered in thick gold leaf. If it were solid, it would require serious I-beam steel supporting structure. No way it is solid.
I did that in a former home I owned. I built a magazine rack into the side wall next to the toilet, complete with telephone, radio and TV. It was the highlight of open house weekend to sell the home, and we got lots of bidders based on large part due to the bathroom. Best investment ever.
And, if it were solid gold, it would be worth $250 million. It’s obviously plated.
btt
Nope. I had to go to the men’s tourist urinals. Standing room only!
I thought that if you excused yourself to go to the powder room, it would be sitting right there—and who wouldn’t take advantage of an opportunity like that.
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