Two men charged with stealing Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’ from London gallery

Two men have been charged with burglary over the theft of an artwork by street artist Banksy that was taken in a smash-and-grab raid on a London gallery.

The Metropolitan Police said that Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53, are alleged to have taken ‘Girl with Balloon’ from the Grove Gallery on Sunday night.

The suspects appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and were ordered detained until their next hearing on 9 October.

Surveillance camera footage showed a masked man smashing a glass door before dashing in and taking the picture from a wall.

Police said they have recovered the work, which is valued in court documents at £270,000 (€319,000). Nothing else was reported stolen.

The stolen work is one of several versions of ‘Girl with Balloon’, a stencilled image of a child reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon.

Originally stencilled on a wall in east London, the picture has been endlessly reproduced, becoming one of Banksy’s best-known images.

Another version partially self-destructed during a 2018 auction, passing through a shredder hidden in its frame just after it was purchased for £1.1 million (€1.3 million) at Sotheby’s.

The self-shredded work, retitled ‘Love is in the Bin’, went on to sell of for £18.6 million (€22 million) in 2021.

Gallery manager Lindor Mehmetaj said he was “horrified and petrified” by the theft and grateful to have the picture back.

But he did say the incident would have positive impact on the value of the artwork.

“We’ve got the Metropolitan Police seal the artwork. It was stolen. So it’s a new story. And that typically does financially…increase the value of masterpieces,” he said.

Bansky, who has never confirmed his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol and has become one of the world’s best-known artists.

His mischievous and often satirical images include two policemen kissing, armed riot police with yellow smiley faces and a chimpanzee with a sign bearing the words, ‘Laugh now, but one day I’ll be in charge.’

His paintings and installations sell for millions at auction and have often been the target for thieves and vandals.