Two men have been charged with burglary after Banksy’s famous Girl With Balloon painting was stolen from a London gallery, police have said.
Larry Fraser, 47, of Beckton, east London, and James Love, 53, of North Stifford, Essex, were charged with non-residential burglary on Thursday, the Metropolitan Police said.
They appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates Court the same day and were bailed to appear Kingston Crown Court on 9 October.
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The painting, one of the street artist’s most famous, was stolen from a gallery in New Cavendish Street in London at around 11pm on Sunday 8 September.
Following an investigation by the Met’s flying squad, it has now been recovered and will be returned to the gallery, police added.
Banksy laid claim to an unprecedented nine paintings in nine days this summer after they appeared at various locations around London.
The street artist usually leaves months between pieces, but the animal-themed works continued to pop up one day after the other.
The fourth in the series, a silhouette of a howling wolf painted on a satellite dish, was stolen within hours of appearing in Rye Lane, Peckham, southeast London.
People wearing balaclavas were seen approaching the flat roof building it was on with a ladder, before climbing up and removing the dish.
The last of the nine images, a gorilla painted onto a shutter at London Zoo, was removed by staff for “safe-keeping”.
