Moment Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’ is ‘stolen by hooded thieves who smash their way into gallery in brazen art heist’
Video footage shows a famous Banksy being stolen from an art gallery by masked thieves.
One of Banksy’s most iconic works, Girl with Balloon, was stolen from a gallery in London on September 8.
The work, valued at £270,000, was stolen in a robbery at the Grove Gallery, when thieves smashed the glass doors and made off with the work.
Two men, including Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53, have now been charged over the theft, the Met Police said.
Now images show a thief entering the gallery on Sunday evening around 11 p.m.
CCTV footage from inside the Grove Gallery in London shows a thief forcing his way in
Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53, have been charged with burglary after Banksy’s Girl with Balloon (pictured) was stolen from a London gallery on New Cavendish Street
A thief smashed his way through the entrance, went straight to the Banksy and made off with the bank
The thief then made off with the artwork and was seen running away from the crime scene
CCTV footage from the gallery shows a hooded man dressed entirely in black using a large object as a makeshift battering ram to break down the doors, which appear to have been reinforced.
The alleged thief needed over 30 blows to create a hole big enough to enter the building, then stepped inside, went straight for the Banksy and simply lifted it off the wall.
They then exited through the same hole and ran away from the crime scene.
The girl with the balloon was found following investigations by detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad.
Fraser, from Beckton, East London, and Love, from North Stifford, Essex, were charged with burglary of a non-dwelling property on Thursday, September 11, and remanded in custody by police.
Both appeared at Wimbledon District Court on Thursday, September 12, where they were bailed to appear at Kingston Crown Court on Wednesday, October 9.
According to court documents, the pair allegedly entered the Grove Gallery as intruders and stole ‘Girl with Balloon Print’ worth £270,000.
The alleged thief was in the gallery for only a few seconds
Officers inspect the damaged door outside the Grove Gallery in Fitzrovia, London
The work, estimated to be worth up to £200,000, is one of the street artist’s most iconic works
It was taken during a raid on the Grove Gallery, in New Cavendish Street, on Sunday, which saw the glass entrance to the site smashed
The gallery was hosting a Banksy exhibition titled ‘Breakout: Banksy’s London Rebellion’, which ended on Saturday.
Girl with Balloon appeared alongside other well-known Banksy works, including Pulp Fiction and Monkey Queen.
During the burglary, Grove’s glass entrance doors were smashed.
A statement from the Met Police revealed that Banksy’s Girl with Balloon was the only item stolen. It has since been recovered and will be returned to the gallery.
The work, which depicts a young girl with black graffiti who has just released a red heart-shaped balloon, is one of the street artist’s most recognizable works.
It was first seen in 2002 on the South Bank of Waterloo, next to the quote: ‘There is always hope.’
Girl with Balloon is a series of artworks, of which the work in the West London gallery is one of several versions.
Another version of the painting made headlines in 2018 when it partially destroyed itself at the end of an auction where it had sold for £1.1 million.
The canvas was run through a secret shredder hidden in the large frame, the bottom half was shredded, leaving only a lone red balloon on a white background in the frame.
The partially shredded artwork, titled Love Is In The Bin, was sold at auction in London in October 2021 by Sotheby’s for £18,582,000.
The story follows a series of Banksy paintings that have been stolen or vandalised in recent months.
Girl with balloon, seen in packaging marked ‘police evidence’, was found by detectives from the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad and is expected to be returned
Grove Gallery hosted a Banksy exhibition, titled ‘Breakout: Banksy’s London Rebellion’, which ended on Saturday
Girl with Balloon appeared alongside other notable Banksy works, including Monkey Queen (print shown)
Another Banksy work, a photograph of a lone wolf on a satellite dish in Peckham, mysteriously disappeared last month. Footage shows men in cap sleeves dismantling the dish and removing it.
A mural – showing two elephants poking their heads out of a white window – surfaced in Chelsea, London last month, but was damaged by grey streaks again after a week.
The painting, located in Edith Grove, was the second of nine animal-themed artworks on display in the capital.
Banksy’s rhino mural in Charlton was also vandalised with spray paint in August, while the artist’s lone wolf mysteriously disappeared from a satellite dish in Peckham.
Footage has emerged showing the shocking moment the artwork is dismantled and then taken away.
A group of men wearing hoods, face masks and gloves were spotted climbing the building, removing the satellite dish and running away.
A spokesperson for Banksy previously said the artist had nothing to do with the theft of the wolf artwork and did not condone the theft, and they also had “no knowledge of the current whereabouts of the law.”