Two men jailed for £4.8million gold toilet heist

Two men have been jailed for stealing a £4.8 million gold toilet from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace. Thieves smashed their way in and ripped out the functional 18-carat, solid gold toilet, hours after a glamorous launch party at the Oxfordshire stately home in September 2019.

James 'Jimmy' Sheen, 40, pleaded guilty to burglary, transferring criminal property and conspiracy to do the same in 2024, while Michael Jones, 39, was found guilty of burglary in March.  The men, from Oxford, were sentenced to four years and two years and three months in prison respectively.

Sheen was a key player - a career criminal and the only man convicted of both burglary and selling the gold.  He pleaded guilty last year after police found his DNA at the scene and gold fragments in his clothing. Police also recovered his phone that contained a wealth of incriminating messages.