That’s number two to take the plunge for the outlandish 2019 theft of a golden toilet that was being displayed in Winston Churchill’s birthplace.
The Associated Press reported this week that a second man, Michael Jones, has been convicted for his role in the burglary of the 215-pound gilded commode, which authorities have yet to recover.
Jones, 39, was found guilty of burglary in the Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday, according to the AP. The news service reported that Jones and at least two other men broke into the Blenheim Palace, where Churchill was born in 1874, located in the English countryside town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Prosecutors alleged that Jones helped rip the toilet from its plumbing before he and two other men raced off with the goods in two stolen vehicles, according to the AP.
The 18-carat toilet was never recovered, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. The toilet — a fully functional satirical art piece — was believed to have been carved up and sold in pieces. The CPS estimated the piece was worth nearly $6 million, PEOPLE previously reported.
Jones is the second man to be found guilty for theft after the burglary’s mastermind, James Sheen, pleaded guilty to his own charge at an earlier hearing. The CPS initially announced charges against Sheen, 40, Jones, and both Fred Doe, 36, and Bora Guccuk, 41, in 2023.
Guccuk was later acquitted, according to the AP, while Doe was convicted of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
The brazen theft caused “significant damage and flooding” inside the English palace, authorities said at the time. PEOPLE reported in 2019 that the toilet was hauled off shortly before 5 a.m. local time.
Blenheim visitors had been allowed to view the toilet, needing to book an appointment in advance and only being allowed a strict three minutes of viewing. Prosecutors alleged that Jones used the toilet the night before while scoping out the palace, doing reconnaissance ahead of the planned burglary, the AP reported this week.
“This was an audacious raid which had been carefully planned and executed,” prosecutor Shan Saunders said this week, according to the AP. “But those responsible were not careful enough, leaving a trail of evidence in the form of forensics, CCTV footage and phone data.”
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
The posh potty was installed as a satirical art piece by Italian sculptor Maurizio Cattelan. It was titled “America” and was meant to be a commentary on gluttony and excessive wealth, according to the AP.
The toilet was first displayed at New York’s Guggenheim Museum in 2016, though it was later offered to U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017 on loan after he asked the museum to lend him an 1888 Van Gogh painting.
Read the full article here
