Two males have been charged with housebreaking after one in all Banksy’s most celebrated work was stolen from a gallery in central London.
The paintings, Lady With Balloon, is likely one of the stencil artist’s best-known pictures.
The theft was investigated by the Metropolitan police’s Flying Squad and the portray has now been recovered.
Larry Fraser, 47, from Beckton, and James Love, 53, from North Stifford, had been charged on Thursday with non-residential housebreaking and remanded in police custody.
An investigation was launched after a gallery in New Cavendish Road was burgled at about 11pm on Sunday. Lady with Balloon was the one paintings stolen and can be returned to the gallery.
Photos of a lady reaching up for a heart-shaped pink balloon had been stencilled throughout London by Banksy from 2002. It first appeared on an wall in east London and was additionally sprayed below Waterloo Bridge.
Restricted version prints had been then made on the market, in addition to hand-sprayed variations. Many are extremely priceless and fetch massive sums at public sale.
In 2018, a framed copy of the paintings fetched greater than £1m earlier than self-destructing on stage. Moments after the hammer fell, alarms sounded and the canvas dropped by means of a hidden shredder constructed into the underside of the massive ornate body.
The successful bidder determined to maintain the acquisition and the partially shredded image was given a brand new title, Love Is within the Bin. It was bought three years later for a file £18.5m at Sotheby’s in London.
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