Four men accused of stealing a gold toilet at Blenheim Palace, located in Woodstock, south of England. The piece was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and is valued at 5.9 million dollars. Although the robbery took place in 2019, the official accusation was only made this Monday.
“America”, the kidnapped work, was part of an artistic exhibition and was in the birthplace of the former British prime minister Winston Churchill. In addition, it was declared a world heritage site UNESCO.
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In said castle, visitors could use the toilet to experience “an unprecedented intimacy with a work of art”, according to the authorities. Its first step was at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, where it was used by more than 100,000 people between 2016 and 2017.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service, the four suspects in the theft of the gold piece (18 carat) are between 35 and 39 years old, and They must appear before the Oxford court on November 28. To this day, there are no clues as to where the work is located, which is why investigators estimate that the accused will give some type of information at the hearing.
According to the police’s reconstruction of the events, the four men had devised a plan to kidnap valuables from the palace. For this reason, James Sheen39, was charged with stealing, conspiring to move the aforementioned items.
On the other hand, according to what the agency indicated AFP, Michael Jones38, was charged with robbery while Fred Doe35, and Bora Guccuk39, face charges of transporting stolen property.
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The police officers reported that the defendants had entered the castle in the early morning of September 14 and they would have come out with the golden toilet in the morning, which caused a great flood and «significant damage” in his wake.
Before the piece was extracted, visitors could use it for three minutes as part of an immersive experience. However, since 2019, no trace of his whereabouts has been found.