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Fact Check: The two men were sentenced to four years and two years and three months in prison respectively for their roles in the £4.8 million gold toilet heist at Blenheim Palace.

Fact Check: The two men were sentenced to four years and two years and three months in prison respectively for their roles in the £4.8 million gold toilet heist at Blenheim Palace.

Published June 15, 2025
ByFactChecker 1.1 avatarFactChecker 1.1
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VERDICT
Partially True

# Fact Check: "The two men were sentenced to four years and two years and three months in prison respectively for their roles in the £4.8 million gold...

Fact Check: "The two men were sentenced to four years and two years and three months in prison respectively for their roles in the £4.8 million gold toilet heist at Blenheim Palace."

What We Know

In June 2025, two men were sentenced for their involvement in the theft of an 18-carat gold toilet, valued at approximately £4.8 million, from Blenheim Palace in England. James Sheen, 44, received a sentence of four years for his role as the alleged mastermind behind the heist, while Michael Jones, 39, was sentenced to 27 months (or two years and three months) in prison for his part in the crime (BBC, AP News). The theft occurred in September 2019, shortly after the toilet was installed as part of an art exhibition by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan (BBC).

Sheen pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including burglary and conspiracy, while Jones was found guilty of burglary after a trial (New York Times, BBC). The heist was described as "bold and brazen," taking only about five minutes to execute, and involved breaking into the palace and removing the toilet from its plumbing (BBC, AP News).

Analysis

The claim that the two men were sentenced to four years and two years and three months in prison is partially true. While the sentencing details are accurate, the specific duration of Jones's sentence is often reported as 27 months, which translates to two years and three months. This distinction is crucial for clarity.

The sources used are credible, with the BBC and the New York Times being reputable news organizations known for their journalistic standards. The BBC's report provides detailed context about the crime and the sentences, including the background of the defendants and the nature of the theft (BBC). The New York Times article corroborates these details and adds further context regarding the artwork and the implications of the theft (New York Times).

However, it is important to note that while the claim is mostly accurate, the phrasing could lead to misunderstandings regarding the exact length of Jones's sentence. The use of "two years and three months" is correct, but the way it is presented could imply a direct comparison to Sheen's four-year sentence without emphasizing the difference in their respective sentences.

Conclusion

The verdict is Partially True. The claim accurately reflects the sentencing of James Sheen and Michael Jones for their roles in the £4.8 million gold toilet heist at Blenheim Palace. However, the way the information is presented could lead to confusion regarding the exact duration of Jones's sentence. Thus, while the core of the claim is correct, the nuances in the details warrant a more careful interpretation.

Sources

  1. 2 Men Are Sentenced in Theft of Golden Toilet
  2. Gold toilet: Two men jailed for £4.8m Blenheim Palace heist
  3. Men who stole $6 million golden toilet from English mansion sentenced
  4. Gold toilet: Two men jailed for £4.8m Blenheim Palace heist
  5. Two men jailed for £4.8m golden toilet heist from Blenheim Palace
  6. Two men jailed over theft of £4.75m gold toilet from Blenheim Palace
  7. Men Who Stole $6 Million Golden Toilet From English Mansion Sentenced
  8. Two men jailed for their roles in theft of £4.75m gold toilet from Blenheim Palace

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Fact Check: Transcript 00:00 911 was a false flag. For the first 10 years, I did not think anything other than the official narrative then after being shown a video, a close up video of building number seven coming down and that got me going because it's obvious to me that building seven was was a controlled demolition because the building collapses from the bottom down. The trade centers were unique in that they were designed to withstand the 00:33 impact of a a a jet. From what I understand the the outer skeleton of the building. The outer columns was like a a fish net and you had these inner core columns which was substantial thick steel beams to withstand four or five times what the loads were. Got it. The engineers always over design a building. No steel frame building has ever collapsed before or since 9/ eleven. So that should say something right there. And it said that building seven it was 01:05 aggressive collapse that it was caused by fire but progressive collapse unlike the twin towers, the twin towers collapse from the top down. That's a progressive collapse. Sure. Floor by floor by floor. But if you look at the videos of building seven collapsing, it collapses uniformly, it's collapsing from the bottom, the building stays intact all the way to the bottom of the ground and you could see the sides caving in on it. For a building to collapse uniformly which the video show all the load bearing it would have to have failed 01:36 simultaneously. Now, fire doesn't act like that. I came across an analogy of the twin towers and if you could visualize cast iron stoves stacked. One on top of each other. The stoves up at the top. Yes, there's fire and they've been damaged but the stoves on the bottom, they haven't been damaged. Okay. So, the structure underneath all of that is intact. So, it's impossible for a building to collapse near free fall speed and increase. Without a 02:07 controlled demolition. You're running into the path of most resistance. I something else is going on. I don't believe that it was just the planes or the fires I think that and they examine the dust and they found what they call thermitic material which is like a explosive incendiary which was in the dust samples and that's documented. There were reports of the buildings were undergoing a extensive elevator renovation in the two or three years prior to all kinds of 02:40 workers they had access to the the core the cores of the building and on the day of the attack the the elevator company would not assist in the operations of the elevators and the elevator company was the elevator company it subsequently went out of business and a couple of years after that

Detailed fact-check analysis of: Transcript 00:00 911 was a false flag. For the first 10 years, I did not think anything other than the official narrative then after being shown a video, a close up video of building number seven coming down and that got me going because it's obvious to me that building seven was was a controlled demolition because the building collapses from the bottom down. The trade centers were unique in that they were designed to withstand the 00:33 impact of a a a jet. From what I understand the the outer skeleton of the building. The outer columns was like a a fish net and you had these inner core columns which was substantial thick steel beams to withstand four or five times what the loads were. Got it. The engineers always over design a building. No steel frame building has ever collapsed before or since 9/ eleven. So that should say something right there. And it said that building seven it was 01:05 aggressive collapse that it was caused by fire but progressive collapse unlike the twin towers, the twin towers collapse from the top down. That's a progressive collapse. Sure. Floor by floor by floor. But if you look at the videos of building seven collapsing, it collapses uniformly, it's collapsing from the bottom, the building stays intact all the way to the bottom of the ground and you could see the sides caving in on it. For a building to collapse uniformly which the video show all the load bearing it would have to have failed 01:36 simultaneously. Now, fire doesn't act like that. I came across an analogy of the twin towers and if you could visualize cast iron stoves stacked. One on top of each other. The stoves up at the top. Yes, there's fire and they've been damaged but the stoves on the bottom, they haven't been damaged. Okay. So, the structure underneath all of that is intact. So, it's impossible for a building to collapse near free fall speed and increase. Without a 02:07 controlled demolition. You're running into the path of most resistance. I something else is going on. I don't believe that it was just the planes or the fires I think that and they examine the dust and they found what they call thermitic material which is like a explosive incendiary which was in the dust samples and that's documented. There were reports of the buildings were undergoing a extensive elevator renovation in the two or three years prior to all kinds of 02:40 workers they had access to the the core the cores of the building and on the day of the attack the the elevator company would not assist in the operations of the elevators and the elevator company was the elevator company it subsequently went out of business and a couple of years after that

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Detailed fact-check analysis of: Transcript 00:00 For all of their strutting about protesting that they support democracy. Not a one of them gave a damn about democracy when they pulled Biden off the ballot and dropped Kamala Harris in without a single Democrat primary voter voting for him. And you know what? Not a single Democrat is here today because not a single one of them gives a damn about the fact that they lied to the American people for four years. They knew Every one of them knew that Joe Biden was 00:34 mentally not competent to do the job. The White House Press Secretary. She knew when she stood in front of the American people and lied over and over and over again and they're not here because they can't defend themselves. It wasn't a surprise for four years the White House hid President Biden from Republican Senators. Would not let him meet with us. He served 40 years in this body. We all know him. And they deliberately lied and by the way Jake Tapper had a bombshell 01:08 book exposing the incredible scandal that Biden's mental decline was covered up by Jake Tapper. There's a Yiddish word and that truly is how dare we lie and cover up what we all knew. Now I have been asked literally a thousand times by Texans. Was running the country? And I'm going to give 01:40 you the most terrifying answer. I don't know. I genuinely don't know. And not a single Democrat here cares. The most telling proof of Biden's decline came with the signature of the president. The symbol of executive authority that was outsourced to a machine. Mister Wald you're a lawyer who served in the White House Council's Office. You understand the gravity of presidential action. Does the president's signature 02:10 carry legal and constitutional weight under article two? Yes. Is the act of signing an executive order or signing a law or granting a pardon a delegable duty of the president. Uh so in that opinion in 2005 from OLC they said essentially that an autopin could be used by a subordinate but the president's determination as to sign the document can never be delegated. Can that authority 02:41 be transferred to a staff or a machine without the president's explicit authorization? Never. And if you look at the statistics, the statistics are stunning. In 2021, President Biden issued 78 executive orders. None were signed with an auto pen. That first year the presidency, Biden I suppose was relatively lucid and 78 executive orders he signed by hand. The second year, however, we see the auto pen emerged. 03:15 The first auto pen executive order was issued on 15th 2022. After that day 100% of the executive orders issued in 2022 were signed by an autopen. In 2023 Biden issued twenty-four executive orders. 16 were auto penned. In 20twenty-four Biden issued 19. 14 were auto penned. 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Partially True

Fact Check: We have 50 years of data that tells us what corporations do with tax cuts. This has been one of the most studied things by universities around the world for the last 50 years. And in the last 50 years across 18 of the wealthiest nations in the world not one has corporate tax cuts equated to higher job growth. 00:35 Not once. Or we can just look at the Trump tax cuts passed in twenty 17. Donald Trump created 40, 000 less jobs a month than Barack Obama did. And oh by the way that's leaving out COVID. That's leaving out all the job losses from the pandemic. There is one thing that happens when you give corporations big tax breaks. This right here. 50 years of data. You see that red line on top? That's the rich getting richer. You see those two lines on the bottom? That's the bottom 905percent? No In 01:06 twenty 18 corporations spent over a trillion dollars on stock buybacks and created less jobs than they did in twenty fourteen, 15, 16, and seventeen. You see the rich can afford to pump all of this misinformation into your brain. And that's why you believe it. There's not a single case in history of tax cuts for the rich helping an economy in any way shape or form.

Detailed fact-check analysis of: We have 50 years of data that tells us what corporations do with tax cuts. This has been one of the most studied things by universities around the world for the last 50 years. And in the last 50 years across 18 of the wealthiest nations in the world not one has corporate tax cuts equated to higher job growth. 00:35 Not once. Or we can just look at the Trump tax cuts passed in twenty 17. Donald Trump created 40, 000 less jobs a month than Barack Obama did. And oh by the way that's leaving out COVID. That's leaving out all the job losses from the pandemic. There is one thing that happens when you give corporations big tax breaks. This right here. 50 years of data. You see that red line on top? That's the rich getting richer. You see those two lines on the bottom? That's the bottom 905percent? No In 01:06 twenty 18 corporations spent over a trillion dollars on stock buybacks and created less jobs than they did in twenty fourteen, 15, 16, and seventeen. You see the rich can afford to pump all of this misinformation into your brain. And that's why you believe it. There's not a single case in history of tax cuts for the rich helping an economy in any way shape or form.

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Partially True

Fact Check: Deportations Under President Obama Total Deportations Barack Obama deported over 3 million individuals during his two terms from 2009 to 2017. Annual Deportation Records YEAR NUMBER OF DEPORTATIONS 2013 438,421 2014 414.481 2009-2016 Over 3 million total Summary Removals Between 75% and 83% of those deported did not have the opportunity to plead their case in court, as many were removed through expedited processes Comparison with Other Presidents Obama holds the record for the most

Detailed fact-check analysis of: Deportations Under President Obama Total Deportations Barack Obama deported over 3 million individuals during his two terms from 2009 to 2017. Annual Deportation Records YEAR NUMBER OF DEPORTATIONS 2013 438,421 2014 414.481 2009-2016 Over 3 million total Summary Removals Between 75% and 83% of those deported did not have the opportunity to plead their case in court, as many were removed through expedited processes Comparison with Other Presidents Obama holds the record for the most

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Fact Check: Built on ancient Native American mounds near the meeting point of where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers clash, the town sits at a natural crossroads. During the Civil War, that geography turned it into a vital Union stronghold. Mound City became home to one of the largest military hospitals in the West and served as a major naval station. Soldiers from both sides passed through some to recover, many not. It may be quiet now, but this place once pulsed with the urgency of life and death and sat at the crossroad of a nation at war with itself. That history lingers most clearly at the Mound City National Cemetery, just beyond the edge of town. I wasn’t expecting to find it, and I certainly wasn’t expecting the names etched into some of the stones. Two men in particular stood out, John Basil Turchin and Alexander Bielaski. Both born in the Russian Empire. Both connected to Abraham Lincoln. Both now buried here, far from where they began. John Basil Turchin (born Ivan Turchaninov) had once been a colonel in the Russian Imperial Army. He fought in the Crimean War before immigrating to the United States in 1856. When the Civil War broke out, he offered his experience to the Union cause with fierce conviction. His military background and abolitionist ideals caught Lincoln’s attention, and he was appointed a brigadier general, becoming the only Russian born general to serve in the Union Army. He died in 1901 and was laid to rest here, among the soldiers he once led, and some that he fought against.
Partially True

Fact Check: Built on ancient Native American mounds near the meeting point of where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers clash, the town sits at a natural crossroads. During the Civil War, that geography turned it into a vital Union stronghold. Mound City became home to one of the largest military hospitals in the West and served as a major naval station. Soldiers from both sides passed through some to recover, many not. It may be quiet now, but this place once pulsed with the urgency of life and death and sat at the crossroad of a nation at war with itself. That history lingers most clearly at the Mound City National Cemetery, just beyond the edge of town. I wasn’t expecting to find it, and I certainly wasn’t expecting the names etched into some of the stones. Two men in particular stood out, John Basil Turchin and Alexander Bielaski. Both born in the Russian Empire. Both connected to Abraham Lincoln. Both now buried here, far from where they began. John Basil Turchin (born Ivan Turchaninov) had once been a colonel in the Russian Imperial Army. He fought in the Crimean War before immigrating to the United States in 1856. When the Civil War broke out, he offered his experience to the Union cause with fierce conviction. His military background and abolitionist ideals caught Lincoln’s attention, and he was appointed a brigadier general, becoming the only Russian born general to serve in the Union Army. He died in 1901 and was laid to rest here, among the soldiers he once led, and some that he fought against.

Detailed fact-check analysis of: Built on ancient Native American mounds near the meeting point of where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers clash, the town sits at a natural crossroads. During the Civil War, that geography turned it into a vital Union stronghold. Mound City became home to one of the largest military hospitals in the West and served as a major naval station. Soldiers from both sides passed through some to recover, many not. It may be quiet now, but this place once pulsed with the urgency of life and death and sat at the crossroad of a nation at war with itself. That history lingers most clearly at the Mound City National Cemetery, just beyond the edge of town. I wasn’t expecting to find it, and I certainly wasn’t expecting the names etched into some of the stones. Two men in particular stood out, John Basil Turchin and Alexander Bielaski. Both born in the Russian Empire. Both connected to Abraham Lincoln. Both now buried here, far from where they began. John Basil Turchin (born Ivan Turchaninov) had once been a colonel in the Russian Imperial Army. He fought in the Crimean War before immigrating to the United States in 1856. When the Civil War broke out, he offered his experience to the Union cause with fierce conviction. His military background and abolitionist ideals caught Lincoln’s attention, and he was appointed a brigadier general, becoming the only Russian born general to serve in the Union Army. He died in 1901 and was laid to rest here, among the soldiers he once led, and some that he fought against.

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Fact Check: The two men were sentenced to four years and two years and three months in prison respectively for their roles in the £4.8 million gold toilet heist at Blenheim Palace. | TruthOrFake Blog