Four men are due to appear in court this afternoon charged in relation to the theft of a £4.8million gold toilet from Blenheim Palace.

Michael Jones, 38, of Oxford, and James Sheen, 39, face burglary charges. Fred Doe, 35, of Ascot, and Bora Guccuk, 39, from London, are accused of conspiring to transfer criminal property.

They are due to appear before Oxford magistrates.

The 18-carat gold artwork, valued at £4.8m was stolen in a raid at the stately home in Woodstock in 2019.

The toilet was part of an exhibition by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan and had only been on display at Blenheim Palace for two days when it was stolen.

Only the flushing mechanism and loo roll were left behind by the thieves and the toilet itself has never been found.

The art installation was fully functioning and plumbed in and its removal caused flood damage to the 18th century historic palace.

The artwork - entitled 'America' - was previously displayed at the Guggenheim Museum in New York where in 2016, 100,000 people queued to use it for its intended purpose.

It was such a draw that the museum had to impose on a three-minute time limit on using it.