A raid which saw a £2,800,000 gold toilet stolen from an Oxfordshire palace was pulled off in just five minutes.

The toilet, which was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a star attraction in an exhibition when it was stolen by sledgehammer-wielding thieves who smashed their way into the palace.

‘It weighed approximately 98kg and was insured for the sum of £4.75 million. The gold it was made from was itself worth in the region of £2.8 million at the time.

The burglary was carefully planned and swiftly carried out’ . ‘The men, five of them it appears, drove through locked wooden gates into the grounds of Blenheim Palace shortly before 5 am in two stolen vehicles, an Isuzu truck and a VW Golf.’

‘They drove across a field, up to the front steps and smashed and broke in through a window. They knew precisely¹ where to go, broke down the wooden door to the cubicle² where the toilet was fully plumbed³ in, removed it, leaving water pouring out of the pipes, and drove away.

‘All in all, they spent just five minutes in the building. Clearly such an audacious raid would not have been possible without lots of preparation.’