The two men behind the £4.8 million golden toilet theft at Blenheim Palace have been jailed.
James Sheen, 40, and Michael Jones, 39, received a four-year prison sentence and a 27-month prison sentence respectively.
The men were part of a gang of thieves that smashed their way in and ripped out a fully-functioning £4.8million 18-carat gold toilet during a raid in 2019.
Oxford Crown Court heard James Sheen was already serving over 19 years’ imprisonment for attacks on cash machines, a museum burglary and fraud and was not due for release until 2032.
‘I say straight away I have no doubt at all that the sentence I pass must be consecutive to the sentence you are currently serving,’ Judge Ian Pringle KC said in his sentencing remarks
‘Not to do so would be to send out a message that you did this without any penalty at all.’
The heist took place hours after a glamorous launch party and the distinctive toilet was split up or melted down and sold on soon after it was stolen and has never been recovered.
The toilet was stolen during a five-minute by sledgehammer-wielding thieves who smashed their way in, Oxford Crown Court heard.
They drove through locked wooden gates into the grounds of the palace in two stolen vehicles before breaking in through a window.
A fourth defendant, Bora Guccuk, 41, was found not guilty in March of converting or transferring criminal property.
Police have faced questions over their failure to locate any of the stolen gold, the bullion merchants who bought it, or the other three burglars, despite a five-year investigation.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.
