Banksy’s Girl with Balloon stolen from gallery as two men charged

Girl with Balloon is one of the street artist’s most iconic motifs (Picture: DIEGO AZUBEL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Two men have been charged with burglary after Banksy’s Girl with Baloon artwork was stolen from a London gallery.

Larry Fraser, 47, of Evelyn Denington Road, Beckton, and James Love, 53, of Elvin Drive, North Stifford, were charged Wednesday with non-residential burglary.

They appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court yesterday. Fraser and Love were bailed to next appear at Kingston Crown Court on October 9.

An investigation into the missing piece was launched at around 11pm on Sunday.

The gallery, which police did not name but said was on central London’s New Cavendish Street, has since had the artwork returned.

Girl with Baloon is a series of stencil murals by the enigmatic artist that popped up over the capital in the 2000s, with the first sprayed outside a Shoreditch shop in 2002.

They show a small child in black and out reaching out towards a red, heart-shaped balloon.

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