Man confesses to stealing gold toilet from Churchill’s birthplace

This Tuesday, 2, a man admitted to stealing a gold toilet bowl 18 carats of mansion where the former prime minister was born British Winston Churchill. James Sheen confessed to having taken the piece from the residence, two days after it was installed at Blenheim Palace, in 2019.

As reported by the newspaper O Globo, via The Sun, the 39-year-old man pleaded guilty to crimes such as robbery and conspiracy to transfer criminal assets. Sheen confessed to having planned the theft of the piece valued at £4.8 millionapproximately R$30.4 million, produced by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.

According to the British newspaper, Sheen spent 17 years in prison for carrying out a series of “audacious robberies across the UK”, which include the explosion of 18 ATMs and the theft of R$2.5 million worth of tractors in the same night. The gang led by him also invaded the National Horse Racing Museum in Newmarket, taking trophies and the Ascot Gold Vase, a piece valued at £75,000 (around R$476,000).

In addition to Sheenaccused of stealing 900 thousand pounds worth of products, three other men believed to be accomplices in the theft of the golden vase will also be tried.

Country house

O Blenheim Palace, home of the Dukes of Marlborough, is a country manor situated near Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, in South East England. This residence, one of the largest in all of England, was built between 1705 and 1722. Since its completion, the palace housed the Churchill family for more than 300 years, even receiving the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.