Two men have been charged with burglary following the theft of one of Banksy’s most iconic works, Girl With Balloon, from a gallery in central London.
The artwork, which is among the street artist’s best-known images, was stolen from the Grove Gallery on New Cavendish Street late on Sunday night, triggering an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad. The print, valued at £270,000, has since been recovered by police and will be returned to the gallery.
Larry Fraser, 47, from Beckton in east London, and James Love, 53, from North Stifford in Essex, were charged with non-residential burglary on Thursday. The pair appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court, where they were bailed ahead of a scheduled appearance at Kingston Crown Court on October 9.
According to court documents, the men allegedly entered the gallery as trespassers and stole the print of Girl With Balloon, the only artwork taken during the burglary.
Girl With Balloon, featuring a young girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon, first appeared as a street mural in east London in 2002. Since then, the image has become one of Banksy’s most recognisable works, with limited-edition prints and hand-sprayed versions fetching high prices at auction.
One of the most famous incidents involving Girl With Balloon occurred in 2018, when a framed copy of the piece sold for over £1m at Sotheby’s in London. Moments after the sale, the artwork partially shredded itself through a hidden mechanism in its frame, in an unexpected stunt by Banksy. Renamed Love Is in the Bin, the shredded version later sold for a record £18.5m at auction in 2021.
The investigation into the theft continues, but police confirmed that the artwork will be safely returned to the gallery.
