Wellingborough man pleads guilty to theft of £4.8m golden toilet from palace

A Wellingborough man has pleaded guilty to stealing a golden toilet worth £4.8m from Blenheim Palace.

Appearing via video link at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday (April 2), James ‘Jimmy’ Sheen, 39, pleaded guilty to burglary, converting or transferring criminal property and conspiracy to do the same.

Sheen appeared via video link from HMP Five Wells, where he is already serving a 17-year sentence for a string of thefts including £400,000-worth of tractors and high-value trophies from the National Horse Racing Museum in Newmarket.

Three other men have pleaded not guilty to charges related to the theft. Michael Jones, 38, from Oxford, is accused of burglary. Frederick Sines, aka Frederick Doe, from Ascot, Berkshire, and Bora Guccuck, 40, of west London, are both accused of conspiracy to transfer criminal property. The men are due to go on trial on February 24.

The 18-carat solid gold loo had only been on show as part of the exhibition for two days when it was stolen in September 2019.

Those who wanted to use it had a three-minute time limit to prevent queues from forming.

It was plumbed in when it was stolen which meant the palace suffered from flooding and damage.

The fully functioning toilet, titled ‘America’, was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and housed in the Oxfordshire country house where Sir Winston Churchill was born.