Banksy print worth £270,000 stolen in just over 30 seconds, court hears

A £270,000 Banksy print was stolen from a central London gallery in just over 30 seconds, a court has heard.

Larry Fraser, 48, smashed the glass front door of the Grove Gallery at around 11pm on September 8 last year, stepped inside and stole a limited edition print belonging to the street artist’s Girl with Balloon series which features a young girl reaching towards a red love heart-shaped balloon.

Fraser has pleaded guilty to burglary, jurors at Kingston Crown Court have heard, but 54-year-old James Love faces trial over the theft.

Prosecutors allege Love, said to own a large number of love-heart based pictures, drove to the Fitzrovia-based gallery on the morning of the burglary, was in regular contact with Fraser that day and helped stash the print after it was stolen.

On Tuesday, prosecutor Philip Stott read out a statement written by James Ryan – the owner of Grove Gallery – who said the venue had decided to “pay homage” to Banksy with an exhibition in September last year because of then-recent press coverage of his work.

Thirteen original Banksy artworks, some of which were signed, were selected to be put on display, the court heard.

“The gallery was locked and secured and had been since Friday September 6,” Mr Ryan said.

“On Sunday September 8, the first print on the left as you entered from the street was stolen by a masked male who smashed through the glass panel door.”

He said CCTV footage recorded that 36 seconds passed between the man starting to break in and leaving with the print.

Of the artwork, he said: “It was first printed in 2004 and is a limited edition of 150. This was number 72.

“It was owned by a private collector and is valued at £270,000.”

After leaving the gallery, Fraser took the Banksy into a nearby property where he left the artwork, jurors heard.

Sukhvinder Singh, a night watchman at the property, gave evidence on Tuesday and described his shock at being pushed aside by two men who entered the building late on September 8.

Assisted by a Punjabi interpreter, Mr Singh told the court that he noticed a painting in a toilet which had not been there earlier that evening, describing it as depicting a “doll” who was “flying something like a kite”.

“After that when I saw the painting there I heard some noise on the other side of the (front) door,” he said.

“Somebody was trying to insert a white plastic bit into the door and trying to open the door.”

Mr Singh told jurors he opened the door to find a white man and a black man.

“I was very shocked,” he continued. “They pushed me out of the way and went inside. I tried to ask them in Punjabi, who are you?”

He said they went “straight” to the bathroom, picked up the painting and left.

“The white male was just saying: ‘Sorry sorry, brother, sorry sorry’ in English,” Mr Singh went on.

“I said why did you come inside, how did you come inside?

“They came in a rush, they just came in a great hurry, they were there barely for two to three minutes, they picked it up and left.

“The only thing that was said was sorry.”

The prosecution told jurors on Monday that the two men walked away with the Banksy and later unloaded it at a block of flats in the Isle of Dogs where police eventually found the artwork according to a map and instructions given to them by Love at his first court appearance.

Love, of North Stifford, denies burglary, and the trial continues on Wednesday.