Palace staff have described the moment thieves stole a gold toilet worth £2.8million - but insured for £4.8million - from Blenheim Palace in a five-minute "audacious raid".
The fully functioning 18-carat gold artwork - titled "America" - was taken from the Oxfordshire stately home in the early hours of 14 September 2019.
Oxford Crown Court heard the gang of sledgehammer-wielding thieves executed a meticulously planned heist just two days after the toilet went on display.
"The burglary was carefully planned and swiftly carried out," prosecutor Julian Christopher KC told the court.
The toilet - which weighed approximately 98kg - has never been recovered
PA
The toilet - which weighed approximately 98kg - has never been recovered.
Night duty manager Abel Clarke, whose room was above the golden toilet exhibition, was awoken by the fire alarm during the raid.
"I heard two loud bangs coming from below my room," he said in a statement read to jurors, adding that his first thought was that the boiler had exploded.
While some staff initially thought the noise might have been a delivery before realising something was wrong, Eleanor Paice, visitor service supervisor and night duty manager, told the court: "I realised it was smashing glass."
The break-in was so loud that some palace employees even feared that an explosion had occurred.
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Clarke rushed to see colleague Reza Haghighi, who was monitoring CCTV at the time, who informed him vehicles were outside and people were breaking in.
Haghighi was responsible for monitoring 48 CCTV cameras stationed around the UNESCO World Heritage Site and, at approximately 4.50am, he spotted vehicles entering the palace's quadrangle.
"At first I thought this could be a gamekeeper's vehicle. I zoomed in and realised he was not a gamekeeper," Haghighi said, recalling how he spotted a man in a silver puffer jacket causing him to immediately press a panic button.
He then activated the fire alarm, which turned on floodlights around the site.
Clarke briefly chased after the thieves' vehicle as it sped away.
Michael Jones, 39, from Oxford, has pleaded not guilty to stealing the artwork during the overnight raid.
Frederick Sines, 36, from Berkshire, and Bora Guccuk, 41, from west London, each deny one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
The break-in was so loud that some palace employees even feared that an explosion had occurred
PA
It is alleged Doe and Guccuk agreed to help one of the men who carried out the burglary to sell some of the gold in the following weeks.
The court heard the thieves later used the term "car" as a codeword when discussing the stolen gold with a Hatton Garden jeweller.
In their quest, the thieves drove through locked wooden gates into the grounds of Blenheim Palace shortly before 5am in two stolen vehicles—an Isuzu truck and a VW Golf.
They then drove across a field up to the front steps of the palace and broke in through a window.
"They knew precisely where to go, broke down the wooden door to the cubicle where the toilet was fully plumbed in, removed it, leaving water pouring out of the pipes, and drove away," said prosecutor Julian Christopher KC.
James Sheen, 40, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, has already pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy to transfer criminal property and transferring criminal property.
