Gold toilet was used by theft-accused, court hears

The solid gold toilet disappeared from Blenheim Palace in 2019

A man accused of stealing a £4.8m golden toilet used it on a visit to Blenheim Palace the day before the heist, describing it as "splendid", a court has heard.

The artwork, called America, was taken from the stately home in Oxfordshire in the early hours of 14 September 2019, two days after it went on display.

Michael Jones, 39, from Oxford, denies one count of burglary. Frederick Doe, 36, from Windsor and 41-year-old Bora Guccuk, from west London, both deny conspiring to transfer criminal property.

Giving evidence, Mr Jones said he had visited the exhibition the day before and been "at home in bed" when the toilet was stolen.

(L-R) Bora Guccuk, Frederick Doe and Michael Jones are on trial at Oxford Crown Court

The 18-carat gold, fully-functional toilet was part of an exhibition by the Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan.

The court previously heard Mr Jones had visited the palace twice before the theft.

Prosecution barrister Julian Christopher KC asked Mr Jones why he had taken a half-day off work on the Friday to visit the palace, rather than waiting until the weekend.

Mr Jones admitted he did not often book half-days off work to go to museums and exhibitions but it was because he "was interested to go and see it".

Members of the public booked slots to use the toilet in its cubicle as part of the exhibition.

Photos he had taken were again listed to the jury and Jones said he took many of them because they were "interesting" views or pieces of art.

One was of the window later broken to steal the gold toilet, jurors were told.

A lock on the cubicle to the toilet was also photographed.

Jones said it was because he thought it was "quite funny that you could actually lock yourself in the toilet".

Questioned if he "took advantage of" the gold toilet's "facilities", he told the court that he did make use of it.

Crispin Aylett KC, defence counsel for Mr Doe, asked Mr Jones "what was it like?" and Mr Jones replied "splendid".

Jurors were shown CCTV of Michael Jones visiting Blenheim Palace

A fourth man, James Sheen, 40, from Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, has previously pleaded guilty to burglary.

Jones told the court he was friends with Sheen and that he worked as a roofer and general builder for Sheen's building firm.

During his evidence he said that messages and voice notes between the two of them around the time of the heist were work-related or about a large dog kennel he was planning to help Sheen collect from Milton Keynes immediately after his visit to the exhibition.

He denied that his two visits to the palace in the days before the raid were as reconnaissance for the robbery.

He told the jury he went to the palace on 7 September to see a car show and again on the 13 September to see the exhibition.

The toilet weighed 98kg and was insured for $6m (£4.8m). Gold prices at the time would have seen the gold alone worth £2.8m, the court heard.

The palace is a Unesco World Heritage Site and was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

The trial continues.