The prosecutor says that the golden toilet was stolen in "auditory raid"

London (AP)-It was not your typical robbery and prey, and the prey was precious: a toilet value more than its weight in gold.

The 18 -carat unique gold toilet was sliding in less than five minutes by the Blenheim Palace, the English country mansion, where the British war leader Winston Churchill was born, in the previous hours of September 14, 2019, a prosecutor told jurors Monday. .

Lawyer Julian Christopher said in his opening statement at Oxford Crown Court that it is a “Bold raid”. One of the three men in the trial in the case of Purloined Potty was involved in his steal, and the other two helped sell the thresholds.

The toilet has never been recovered, but it is believed to have been cut and sold.

The satirical work, entitled “America” By the Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, he made fun of excessive wealth. He weighed just over 215 kilograms and was insured for $ 6 million. The value of gold at that time was $ 3.5 million.

The song had previously been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The museum offered the works of US President Donald Trump during his first term in office, after asking to borrow a painting Van Gogh.

One of the defendants, Michael Jones, collected the palace twice in the weeks that led to theft – once before the toilet is displayed at the Blenheim Palace and be close and personal once it was installed and fully functional as an exhibition, a said Christopher. Visitors of the exhibition could book a three -minute programming to use the toilet.

Both, Jones took pictures of the window that was later crushed to enter the palace. The second time he also took photos from inside the bathroom, including a photo of the lock on the toilet door.

“There can be no doubt that he performed recognition for the theft to take place that night,” “ Said Christopher. “That would be enough to be guilty of counting a burglary.”

But Jones was probably among the group of five men who collapsed through the wooden gates of the palace, before dawn, the next morning, in two stolen vehicles, said Christopher. They broke a field in a Isuzu and Vw Golf truck and climbed to the front steps, where they broke the window that Jones had photographed.

They did a quick work to break down the toilet door and removed the golden throne from sanitary installations, leaving the water to drain from the pipes that caused considerable damages to the eighteenth century building, a world-filled world and furniture full art and furniture. which attracts thousands of visitors every year.

Jones was in Cahoots with James Sheen, a builder for whom he worked, who was part of both burglary and effort to sell gold, said Christopher. Sheen, 40 years old, has previously declared himself guilty for burglary, conspiracy and transfer of criminal goods.

Then Sheen worked to make an agreement with Fred Doe and Bora Guccuk to get on transport. In a series of text messages, he referred to the prey as to “Car” But Christopher said he was actually talking about gold.

“I will contact YA, I have something correct on your path”, Sheen told Doe in a single message.

“I can sell that car for you in two seconds … so come to see me tomorrow.” Said Doe in a answer.

Doe, 36 years old and Guccuk, 41, are accused of a conspiracy number to transfer the criminal goods.

All the defendants pleaded guilty.