A man has pleaded guilty to stealing an 18-carat gold toilet worth more than $6 million from the home where Winston Churchill was born.
James Sheen, 39, pleaded guilty at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday to robbery, conversion or transfer of criminal property and conspiracy.
The fully functional toilet was installed at Blenheim Palace in 2019 as part of an exhibition by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan entitled “Victory is Not an Option”.
A statement announcing the exhibition said the work could be seen as a commentary on social, political and economic disparities in the United States, CNN reports.
The unusual work of art, called “America”, was stolen in September 2019, just days after the exhibition opened. This had been mounted on the building, so the theft also caused significant damage and flooding.
Sheen appeared in court via video link from Five Wells Prison, where he is serving a 17-year sentence for various thefts. Among other things, he is serving a sentence for stealing high-value tractors and trophies from the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket, worth a total of £400,000 ($503,000).
“America” was exhibited for the first time at the Guggenheim in New York in 2016.
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