This is the moment a brazen thief smashes his way into a London art gallery and steals Banksy‘s world-famous work Girl with Balloon.
But rather than secreting the instantly recognisable print about his person, or making a dash for it in a getaway vehicle, cavalier thief Larry Fraser could be seen simply swinging it by his side as he walked through London’s streets in full view of the public.
The £270,000 piece was only missing for four days – after the Met’s elite Flying Squad team arrested 49-year-old Fraser following extensive investigation to recover the loot.
Fraser, of Beckton, east London, was handed a 13-month jail sentence at Kingston Crown Court today after pleading guilty to one count of non-residential burglary.
The dramatic smash-and-grab burglary of the ‘Girl with Balloon’ 2004 signed print was caught on camera at the Grove Gallery, Fitzrovia on Sunday, 8 September 2024.
The thief used a hammer to force entry through the glass doors and concealed his identity with a mask, gloves and hooded jacket.
Met detectives managed to track Fraser to a location several streets away, and caught him on CCTV loading the artwork into a van before fleeing the scene.
Fraser was arrested on Tuesday, 10 September at his home address – within 48 hours of the burglary. He was charged the following day.
The Banksy painting Girl with Balloon being carried away from the gallery by Larry Fraser
Fraser, 49, from east London, admitted he was responsible for the burglary
The manager of the Grove Gallery Lindor Mehmetaj poses with the recovered painting
Officers carried out fast-time covert enquiries and managed to recover the artwork following a warrant on the Isle of Dogs on Thursday, 12 September.
Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather, of the Flying Squad, who led the Met’s investigation, said: ‘Banksy’s Girl with Balloon is known across the world – and we reacted immediately to not just bring Fraser to justice but also reunite the artwork with the gallery.
‘The speed at which this took place is a testament to the tireless work of the Flying Squad officers – in total it took just four days for normality to be restored.
‘We recognise the concern and distress that commercial robberies cause for businesses and the communities around them.
‘The Met is committed to working with Londoners and will act quickly when crimes have taken place to make the city a safer place.’
Sentencing him on Friday, Judge Anne Brown said: ‘This is a brazen and serious non-domestic burglary.’
She added: ‘Whilst you did not know the precise value of the print, you obviously understood it to be very valuable.
‘Whilst I am sure there was a high degree of planning, this was not your plan.’
She said the offence was ‘simply too serious’ for a suspended sentence.
The court heard Fraser had 18 previous convictions but the most recent was in 2002, when he was jailed for robbery and unlawful wounding, and he had been ‘out of trouble’ since his release from prison in 2008.
He stole the artwork to pay off an old drugs debt, the court heard.
Jeffrey Israel, defending, said Fraser, who lived with his mother as her main carer, had managed to ‘break his cycle of drug addiction’ after his last prison sentence.
He said it ‘would take a bold advocate’ to suggest that the value of the print had increased by what happened to it, but added: ‘That is probably the reality.’
Grove Gallery manager Lindor Mehmetaj, 29, said: ‘I was completely, completely shocked, but in a very, very positive way when the Flying Squad showed me the actual artwork.
‘It’s very hard to put into words, the weight that comes off your shoulders.
‘The way that they dealt with it from the moment they arrived on the scene – pragmatic, logical, very composed and ultimately professional.
‘But also, to have the artwork recovered after it had been robbed from us is remarkable.’