{"id":2219,"date":"2025-11-15T05:44:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T05:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2219"},"modified":"2025-11-15T05:44:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T05:44:26","slug":"man-jailed-for-smash-and-grab-theft-of-banksys-girl-with-balloon-print-arts-and-culture-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2219","title":{"rendered":"Man jailed for \u2018smash and grab\u2019 theft of Banksy\u2019s Girl with Balloon print | Arts and Culture News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>The British street artist has created several versions of the iconic painting across London, as well as in Palestine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 15 Nov 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">15 Nov 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p class=\"tr-story-p1\">A man has been sentenced to 13 months in prison by a British court for stealing a print of street artist Banksy\u2019s iconic Girl with Balloon from a London gallery in September last year.<\/p>\n<p>Larry Fraser, 49, was jailed on Friday by a judge in southwest London after he pleaded guilty to the smash-and-grab burglary of the elusive artist\u2019s painting, valued at 270,000 pounds ($355,200).<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Despite trying to conceal his identity with a mask, Fraser was caught on camera, and police tracked him down two days after the theft. The artwork was recovered shortly afterwards, according to London\u2019s Metropolitan Police.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a brazen and serious non-domestic burglary,\u201d said Judge Anne Brown, passing the sentence at Kingston Crown Court.<\/p>\n<p>The Girl with Balloon first appeared on the streets of London\u2019s Shoreditch neighbourhood in 2002, with Banksy creating versions of the painting on London\u2019s South Bank in 2004 and in the occupied West Bank in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>One version of the painting shredded itself into pieces the moment after it was sold for more than one million British pounds ($1.3m) by London auction house Sotheby\u2019s in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather said: \u201cBanksy\u2019s \u2018Girl with Balloon\u2019 is known across the world \u2013 and we reacted immediately to not just bring Fraser to justice but also reunite the artwork with the gallery.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"banksy-s-paintings-in-palestine\">Banksy\u2019s paintings in Palestine<\/h2>\n<p>The secretive British street artist has returned to Palestine on multiple occasions to create artworks, including a version of the girl with the red balloon.<\/p>\n<p>In 2005, he sprayed nine stencilled images at different locations along the illegal, eight-metre-high (26-foot) separation wall that Israel has constructed in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n<p>They included a ladder reaching over the wall, a young girl being carried over it by balloons and a window on the grey concrete showing beautiful mountains in the background.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4107382\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4107382\" style=\"width:770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-4107382\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2007-12-03T120000Z_248264279_GM1DWSRYGSAA_RTRMADP_3_PALESTINIANS-BANKSY-1763172101.jpg?w=770&amp;resize=770%2C604&amp;quality=80\" alt=\"A Palestinian boy looks at one of six new images painted by British street artist Banksy as part of a Christmas exhibition in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 2, 2007. British graffiti artist Banksy is trying to bring cheer and boost tourism in Bethlehem this Christmas with a series of subversive murals in the town revered as Jesus's birthplace. Picture taken December 2, 2007. REUTERS\/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK)\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4107382\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Palestinian boy looks at one of six images painted by British street artist Banksy as part of a Christmas exhibition in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem in December 2007 [File: Ammar Awad\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 2007, he painted a number of artworks in Bethlehem, including a young girl frisking an Israeli soldier pinned up against a wall.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2015, he allegedly sneaked into the Gaza Strip through a smuggling tunnel and painted three works on the walls of Gaza homes destroyed in Israeli air strikes during the previous year\u2019s conflict.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, he opened the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, just four metres from Israel\u2019s separation wall.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, authorities attempted to scrub a Banksy painting on a London court wall that depicted a judge hitting a protester and was believed to refer to the country\u2019s crackdown on the Palestine Action protest group.<\/p>\n<p>Banksy rose to fame for sharply ironic outdoor graffiti with political themes. Once a small-time graffiti artist from the English city of Bristol, his artwork has become hugely popular worldwide and valuable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The British street artist has created several versions of the iconic painting across London, as well as in Palestine. Published On 15 Nov 202515 Nov 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share A man has been sentenced to 13 months in prison by a British court for stealing a print of street [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}