A builder allegedly stole a heart-themed banksy print worth a quarter of a million to add to his home gallery of paintings linked to his surname Love a court has heard.
James Love, 55, helped steal the iconic image, worth £250,000, by acting as the getaway driver following the theft of the signed artwork from the Grove Gallery in Fitzrovia, central London on September 8 last year.
The limited-edition print of ‘Girl with Balloon’ was stolen a day after the finale of a two-week exhibition called Breakout: Banksy’s London Rebellion, featuring his best known pieces.
Love is said to have helped steal the iconic print with Larry Fraser, 48, who admitted one count of burglary last October.
Love, of North Stifford, Grays, Essex, denies one count of burglary.
Footage of the raid was played to jurors at Kingston Crown Court and showed a hooded man smashing through a glass door before lifting the artwork from the wall and running away.
Love allegedly drove Fraser to and from the Grove Gallery that day and was on the phone with him minutes before the theft.
Described in court as a ‘successful builder’, Love then transferred £200 to ‘impoverished’ Fraser, it was said.
James Love, 55, helped steal Banksy’s iconic Girl with Balloon painting, worth £250,000, by acting as the getaway driver while Larry Fraser, 48, smashed through a gallery door
The limited-edition print was stolen a day after the finale of a two-week exhibition called Breakout: Banksy’s London Rebellion
The heist – which lasted just 37 seconds – saw Fraser break down the door and snatch the painting before hopping in to a waiting vehicle and driving off
The alleged heist lasted just 37 seconds.
Love kept ‘multiple’ pieces of art featuring ‘love hearts’ adorning the walls of his home, jurors heard.
Prosecutor Philip Stott said: ‘Early last September, a private art gallery in Fitzrovia, central London, called the Grove Gallery, had hanging on its walls an exhibition of 13 different works by the famous street artist ‘Banksy’.
‘One of those valuable prints hanging on the wall of the Grove Gallery was ‘Girl with Balloon’.
‘As you can see, it was numbered and signed by Banksy – due to that, and due to the certificate of authenticity, that print was worth, on its own, over a quarter of a million pounds.
‘At 11pm on Sunday 8 September 2024, a man repeatedly smashed in the glass front door of the gallery – stepped inside – and stole that painting, which was hanging just by the door.
‘That person was a man called Larry Fraser.
‘We know it was him, because on 9 October 2024, he pleaded guilty at this court to the burglary of that Banksy.
Fraser, 48, admitted one count of burglary last October (pictured last September at Kingston Crown Court, London
‘James Love is accused of committing that burglary with Mr Larry Fraser.
‘The prosecution say Mr Fraser was assisted and or encouraged in that effort by Mr Love, who dishonestly intended that the legitimate owner should be permanently deprived of it.
‘Mr Love drove Mr Fraser to the scene of the crime, and drove Mr Fraser and the painting away from the scene of the crime.
‘In that sense, he was, in part, the getaway driver, though that does not appear to have been all of his role.’
Mr Stott said Love was ‘within three feet of the stolen print’ on the morning of 8 September after driving his Renault Trafic van near the Grove Gallery to ‘unload some boxes’.
Jurors heard that Love called Fraser several times throughout the day.
‘For all of those calls Mr Love appears to have been not around his home address, but instead in central London, using a mobile telephone mast in W1 – so in the general vicinity of the gallery at New Cavendish Street.
‘By about 16:50, both men were using their telephones in the Stepney Green area, potentially indicating that they co-located.’
The print was taken in a heist of Grove Gallery, in New Cavendish Street, on Sunday which left the site’s glass entrance smashed
The thief then made off with the artwork and could be seen running from the scene
The prosecutor said that at 21:44, mobile telephone masts suggest Love left an area close to Fraser’s home.
‘An hour after that, the mobile telephones of both men are using masts in the vicinity of the gallery in W1.
‘Mr Love’s Renault van parks in Scala Street, outside number 21 – Mr Love calls Mr Fraser at 22:55:20 for 37 seconds.
‘The smashing of the door of the gallery by Mr Fraser then starts at 22:58:36.
‘Mr Fraser gets into the gallery, goes straight to the Girl with Balloon print, takes it off the wall, and exits – Mr Love is meanwhile still in Scala Street.’
Love was captured on CCTV ‘standing on Scala Street with a phone to his ear’ at 23:01, about fifteen minutes after the robbery, the court heard.
Mr Stott added that Fraser’s journey after the robbery saw him walk towards where Love was at an address in Scala Street.
The prosecutor said Sukhinder Singh was the ‘night watchman’ at the address of 21 Scala Street.
‘At about 10.45 pm, as he was walking past the bathroom on the ground floor of that property, he was startled to see a large painting by the interior doorway – it was the Banksy.
‘He had no idea how it had got there because it had not been there when he had gone past the same spot an hour before.
‘Suddenly he saw a white plastic object coming through the lock of the front door, as though someone was trying to get in.
‘Mr Singh opened the door himself and two men, one white and one black, barged in – clearly Mr Love and Mr Fraser.
‘They pushed past Mr Singh, went to the painting, picked it up and left, turning right.’
CCTV footage then shows Love ‘somewhat in front of Mr Fraser’ carrying the Banksy towards Whitfield Street.
‘It seems they further left the print somewhere on the street, as both men then walked to Goodge Street back towards Mr Love’s parked van, but cannot be seen holding the Banksy at that point.
‘Mr Fraser turned around and walked back to Scala Street.
‘Mr Love got in the van and drove it back to Scala Street, arriving there at the same time as Mr Fraser did on foot.
‘Mr Fraser then retrieved the Banksy from wherever it had been temporarily put, and with Mr Love’s assistance, placed it in the back of Mr Love’s van.
‘Mr Fraser got in the back of the van, Mr Love got in the front, and drove off.’
Love then drove to an address on Westfery Road and at 23:45 ‘got the artwork out of the back of the van and took it inside’, Mr Stott said.
He told jurors that Love stealing the Banksy could be explained by his pre-existing collection of paintings with ‘love hearts on.
‘The prosecution says in this case, once you have heard all the evidence, that you will be sure that Mr Love did intend that the Banksy be stolen.
‘Given that it was Mr Love who had multiple pieces of art based on love hearts already on his walls, it was likely stolen with a view to it eventually – when the heat had died down – ending up in the same place.
‘To that end you will recall from the CCTV that Mr Fraser went straight to that particular print featuring the love heart balloon, not to any others, and did not bother to stop to collect more than that one print, or indeed to target the original Banksy inside that gallery.’
He added: ‘It also appears that the two men, financially, were in very different positions, Mr Love being – it seems – a relatively successful builder, and Mr Fraser being impoverished with only £1.75 in his bank account the day before this offence.
‘Based on their bank accounts, Mr Love had previously paid Mr Fraser small amounts – normally £20 or so – about 20 times in the preceding year, but for some reason transferred £200 to Mr Fraser on the very day of this offence.’
He concluded: ‘Once the Banksy was seized, within minutes it was safe in the back of Mr Love’s van and the two of them went straight to a nondescript third location, away from either of their homes, to stash it away.
‘Although it is entirely a matter for you, in those circumstances the prosecution says that the only true verdict against this defendant, on the evidence, is one of guilty.’
The trial continues.
