13 September 2024 , 20:38
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This is the moment a hooded figure shattered the glass door of a London gallery and stole Banksy’s Girl with Baloon artwork.
CCTV footage showed the individual banging on the door of Fitzrovia’s Grove Gallery for about 30 seconds before breaking inside at about 11pm Sunday.
They darted into the gallery and took the framed picture off the wall before heading out with it in their hand and walking through Tottenham Court Road.
An investigation into the missing piece was launched and later referred to the Flying Squad, a unit of the Metropolitan Police that deals with serious crimes.
Larry Fraser, 47, of Evelyn Denington Road, Beckton, and James Love, 53, of Elvin Drive, North Stifford, were charged on Wednesday with non-residential burglary.
The person was seen ramming into the glass door for several seconds before it shattered
The gallery’s windows had been shattered (Picture: Click News and Media)
Girl with Balloon was the only one of the Banksy exhibition pieces taken (Picture: Click News and Media)
Gallery curators say the exhibit was to pay homage to Banksy (Picture: Click News and Media)
Both appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court yesterday where they were bailed. They will appear at Kingston Crown Court on October 9.
The gallery, which police did not name but said was on central London’s New Cavendish Street, has since had the artwork returned.
Grove Gallery was about to finish its two-week exhibition featuring Banksy artworks – including the £270,000 Girl with Balloon – when the artwork was stolen.
Manager Lindor Mehmetaj learnt that Girl with Balloon had been taken on Monday when he arrived at work to find the front door ‘window was totally smashed.’