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Considered one of Banksy’s most iconic works, Lady with Balloon, has been stolen from a London gallery, with two males charged with housebreaking.
The work, with an estimated worth of as much as £200,000, was taken in a heist of Grove Gallery over the weekend, with Larry Fraser, 47 , and James Love, 53, arrested after a police investigation.
Lady with Balloon was recovered following the probe by detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad, Lady with Balloon is about to be returned.
Fraser, of Beckton, East London, and Love, from North Stifford, Essex, have been charged on Thursday, September 11, with non-residential housebreaking and remanded in Police Custody.
Each appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court docket on Thursday, September 12, the place they have been bailed to subsequent seem at Kingston Crown Court docket on Wednesday, October 9.
Larry Fraser, 47 , and James Love, 53, have been charged with housebreaking after Banksy’s Lady with Balloon (pictured) was stolen from a London gallery in New Cavendish Avenue
The work, with an estimated worth of as much as £200,000, is without doubt one of the avenue artist’s most iconic
It was taken in a heist of Grove Gallery, in New Cavendish Avenue, on Sunday which left the positioning’s glass entrance smashed
The investigation was launched after a housebreaking the New Cavendish Avenue website, at round 11pm on Sunday, September 8.
The gallery had been internet hosting a Banksy exhibition, titled ‘Breakout: Banksy’s London Rebel’, which ended on Saturday.
Lady with Balloon appeared alongside different notable Banksy items together with Pulp Fiction and Monkey Queen.
Grove’s glass entrance doorways have been smashed in throughout the breakin.
A Met Police assertion confirmed Banksy’s Lady with Balloon was the one merchandise stolen and it has now been recovered and shall be returned to the gallery.
The work, depicting a younger lady in black graffiti who has simply let go of a purple heart-shaped balloon, is without doubt one of the avenue artist’s most recognisable items.
It was first seen in Waterloo’s South Financial institution in 2002 subsequent to the citation: ‘There’s all the time hope.’
It follows a spree of Banksy work being stolen or vandalised over the previous couple of months.
One mural – which depicts two elephants poking their head out of white home windows – popped up in Chelsea in London final month however was defaced with gray stripes after every week.
Positioned on Edith Grove, the portray marked the second of 9 animal-themed artworks to seem within the capital by the elusive artist.
Lady with Balloon, seen in a wrapping marked ‘police proof’, was recovered by detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad and is about to be returned
Grove Gallery had been internet hosting a Banksy exhibition, titled ‘Breakout: Banksy’s London Rebel’, which ended on Saturday
Lady with Balloon appeared alongside different notable Banksy items together with Monkey Queen (print pictured)
Banksy’s rhino mural in Charlton was additionally destroyed with spray paint in August, whereas the artist’s lone wolf on a satellite tv for pc dish in Peckham mysteriously disappeared.
Footage emerged displaying the stunning second the paintings was dismantled earlier than being carried away.
A bunch of hooded males sporting facemasks and gloves have been noticed scaling the constructing, eradicating the satellite tv for pc dish, and strolling off.
A spokesperson for Banksy beforehand stated the artist was neither linked to nor endorsed the theft of the wolf paintings and that they’d ‘no information as to the dish’s present whereabouts’.