Two charged after famous Banksy painting stolen from London gallery

Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53, were charged with burglary after an investigation

Two men have been charged with burglary after a Banksy artwork was stolen from a London art gallery.

Larry Fraser, 47 and of Evelyn Denington Road in Beckton, and James Love, 53 and of Elvin Drive in North Stifford, were charged on Wednesday and remanded in custody by the Metropolitan Police.

An investigation was launched by the force after a burglary at the Grove Gallery in New Cavendish Street, in central London, at around 11pm on Sunday.

The ‘Girl with Balloon’ print - one of the most well-known by the street artist - was the only item stolen and has since been recovered. Police said it will be returned to the gallery.

One version of the ‘Girl with Balloon’ series was the artwork which famously self-destructed moments after it was sold (Sotheby's/PA Wire)

The pair appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and were bailed to next appear at Kingston Crown Court on 9 October.

According to court documents, the pair allegedly entered Grove Gallery as trespassers and stole “Girl with Balloon Print to the value of £270,000”.

The gallery held an exhibition called Banksy’s London Rebellion from 21 August to 7 September which featured some of his works.

‘Girl with Balloon’ is a series of stencil murals which depict a small child in black and white reaching out towards a red, heart-shaped balloon. There are several versions and one was displayed at the central London gallery.

Banksy sprayed them around the capital in the 2000s, with the first appearing outside a shop in Shoreditch in 2002.

A 2006 version of the painting famously self-destructed moments after it sold for £1 million at Sotheby’s auction house in 2018.

The anonymous artist defended the stunt at the time using a quote from Picasso: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.”

Banksy sprayed nine animal silhouettes around the capital recently, including this one in London Zoo (PA Wire)

The piece, renamed Love is in the Bin, was resold for £18.6 million three years later at the same auction house.

Banksy has recently been in the headlines after spraying nine animal silhouettes onto the streets of London in August.

A mural of a goat perched on top of a wall in Richmond was the first of the animal series to pop up in the capital.

The fourth image, a silhouette of a wolf painted on a satellite dish, was stolen within hours of appearing in Peckham, south-east London. Several pieces in the series were moved for safekeeping.

The meaning behind the murals was revealed as simply intending to inject some fun and lightheartedness into summer, at a time when much of the news was dark and bleak.

The latest art series from Banksy followed criticism of his small boat artwork filled with migrant dummies at Glastonbury Festival earlier in the summer.