“Busted! I Stole Winston Churchill’s Golden Toilet”
In 2019, a daring heist took place at Winston Churchill’s ancestral country house in Britain, where masked individuals stole a unique national treasure: an 18-carat gold functioning toilet. Five years later, the culprits were finally brought to justice.
The New York Times reported that after a three-week trial, Michael Jones, 39, and Fred Doe, 36, were convicted of various crimes related to the theft. Jones was found guilty of theft, while Doe was convicted of conspiracy to convert or transfer stolen property. Another accomplice, James Sheen, 40, confessed to theft, transferring stolen property, and conspiring to transfer property obtained through theft.
The stolen toilet was actually an art piece created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, known for his provocative visual works. The piece, named “America,” was on display at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and had been insured for $6 million. Despite the theft, Cattelan seemed unfazed, describing it as “one of the most bizarre thefts” rather than “the theft of the century.”
The daring theft took place at Blenheim Palace, an English countryside estate, where the toilet had been relocated. Security footage captured the gang forcibly removing the toilet, causing a minor flood in the room. The men were seen loading the toilet and its components into a vehicle before fleeing the scene at high speed.
As of now, the three men await sentencing for their crime, and the repercussions of stealing a toilet remain uncertain. Despite the incident, Cattelan remains nonchalant, indicating that the bizarre theft hasn’t greatly affected him.
