Two people were found guilty of stealing a gold toilet bowl from Churchill's estate.

The Oxford Royal Court has found two Britons guilty of stealing a gold toilet bowl worth £4.75 million from the Dukes of Marlborough's family estate, the Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born. This was announced on Tuesday, March 18, by the Sky News channel.

Michael Jones was found guilty of burglary. Fred Doe was found guilty of conspiracy to sell gold. Bora Gyuchjuk was acquitted of the same charge.

Jones visited the estate twice in the days before the "audacious" theft, but denied that these were reconnaissance trips.

Prosecutor Julian Christopher told the trial that on the night of September 14, a gang of five people in two cars rammed through the gates and, breaking out the windows, entered the palace. Then, having broken out the toilet with sledgehammers, they threw sledgehammers at the crime scene and fled. The whole operation took about five minutes.

The 18-carat gold art object called "America" was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. In 2016, it was exhibited at the New York Museum, after which it was moved to the family estate of the Dukes of Marlborough. It was stolen from there in 2019.

Earlier, on April 3, 2024, a British man pleaded guilty to stealing a gold toilet bowl from Churchill's house. Police charged four men with theft, and one of them, 39-year-old James Sheen from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, pleaded guilty.