Four men have been charged over the theft of a gold toilet from Blenheim Palace.

The art installation, valued at £4.8 million, vanished in an overnight raid in September 2019.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it had authorised criminal charges against four men, who will appear at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on November 28.

They are James Sheen, 39, of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, who is accused of one count of burglary, one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property and one count of transferring criminal property.

Michael Jones, 38, from Oxford, has been charged with one count of burglary; while Fred Doe, 35, from Ascot, Berkshire, and Bora Guccuk, 39, from west London, have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.

The fully functioning toilet had been installed as an artwork at the Oxfordshire palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, when it disappeared.