Man jailed for ‘smash and grab’ theft of Banksy’s Girl with Balloon print

The British thoroughfare creator has created respective versions of the iconic coating crossed London, arsenic good arsenic successful Palestine.

A antheral has been sentenced to 13 months successful situation by a British tribunal for stealing a people of thoroughfare creator Banksy’s iconic Girl with Balloon from a London assemblage successful September past year.

Larry Fraser, 49, was jailed connected Friday by a justice successful southwest London aft helium pleaded blameworthy to the smash-and-grab burglary of the elusive artist’s painting, valued astatine 270,000 pounds ($355,200).

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Despite trying to conceal his individuality with a mask, Fraser was caught connected camera, and constabulary tracked him down 2 days aft the theft. The artwork was recovered soon afterwards, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.

“This is simply a brazen and superior non-domestic burglary,” said Judge Anne Brown, passing the condemnation astatine Kingston Crown Court.

The Girl with Balloon archetypal appeared connected the streets of London’s Shoreditch neighbourhood successful 2002, with Banksy creating versions of the coating connected London’s South Bank successful 2004 and successful the occupied West Bank successful 2005.

One mentation of the coating shredded itself into pieces the infinitesimal aft it was sold for much than 1 cardinal British pounds ($1.3m) by London auction location Sotheby’s successful 2018.

Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather said: “Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’ is known crossed the satellite – and we reacted instantly to not conscionable bring Fraser to justness but besides reunite the artwork with the gallery.”

Banksy’s paintings successful Palestine

The secretive British thoroughfare creator has returned to Palestine connected aggregate occasions to make artworks, including a mentation of the miss with the reddish balloon.

In 2005, helium sprayed 9 stencilled images astatine antithetic locations on the illegal, eight-metre-high (26-foot) separation wall that Israel has constructed successful the occupied West Bank.

They included a ladder reaching implicit the wall, a young miss being carried implicit it by balloons and a model connected the grey factual showing beauteous mountains successful the background.

A Palestinian lad looks astatine 1 of six images painted by British thoroughfare creator Banksy arsenic portion of a Christmas accumulation successful the occupied West Bank municipality of Bethlehem successful December 2007 [File: Ammar Awad/Reuters]

In 2007, helium painted a fig of artworks successful Bethlehem, including a young miss frisking an Israeli worker pinned up against a wall.

In February 2015, helium allegedly sneaked into the Gaza Strip done a smuggling passageway and painted 3 works connected the walls of Gaza homes destroyed successful Israeli aerial strikes during the erstwhile year’s conflict.

In 2017, helium opened the Walled Off Hotel successful Bethlehem, conscionable 4 metres from Israel’s separation wall.

Earlier this year, authorities attempted to scrub a Banksy coating connected a London tribunal partition that depicted a justice hitting a protester and was believed to notation to the country’s crackdown connected the Palestine Action protestation group.

Banksy roseate to fame for sharply ironic outdoor graffiti with governmental themes. Once a small-time graffiti creator from the English metropolis of Bristol, his artwork has go hugely fashionable worldwide and valuable.