{"id":144074,"date":"2025-09-17T21:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T21:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/144074\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T21:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T21:06:12","slug":"accused-builder-says-he-was-angry-with-print-thief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/144074\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused builder says he was angry with print thief"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

This limited edition print was returned to the Grove Gallery exhibition after it was recovered by police. <\/p>\n

A builder accused of helping to steal a \u00a3270,000 Banksy print from a central London gallery said he did not realise what the man who has admitted stealing the artwork was doing.<\/p>\n

James Love, 54, is on trial for burglary after a limited edition Girl With Balloon print was taken from the Grove Gallery in central London on 8 September 2024.<\/p>\n

Larry Fraser, 48, has admitted smashing the gallery’s glass door and stealing the picture.<\/p>\n

Jurors at Kingston Crown Court were shown footage on Wednesday of Mr Love’s van pulling up near the gallery shortly after the break-in.<\/p>\n

The prosecution alleges Mr Love drove to the gallery on the morning of the burglary and helped store the print after it was stolen.<\/p>\n

The video showed Fraser with the Banksy before Mr Love helped him into the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Mr Love told jurors this was the first time he realised what Fraser had done, and asked him what he was carrying.<\/p>\n

He told the court Fraser said he “had to do it” as he owed money.<\/p>\n

He denied acting as Fraser’s getaway driver. <\/p>\n

He told the court: “I don’t know, I wasn’t thinking right – all I was thinking about was family, I’m going to get in trouble, cameras, I wasn’t thinking.<\/p>\n

“When we drove off I started shouting, abusing Fraser. He said he needs it, he owes a large drug debt.<\/p>\n

“I said, ‘you’ve used me’.”<\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

Larry Fraser previously admitted smashing into the gallery and taking the print<\/p>\n

Mr Love said he was furious but later left the picture at a block of flats in the Isle of Dogs.<\/p>\n

“I decided to put the picture there, so Fraser couldn’t get his hands on it, and hopefully get it back to where it belongs,” he said.<\/p>\n

Police eventually found the artwork after Mr Love gave them a map and instructions at his first court appearance.<\/p>\n

Mr Love, a builder, told jurors he had known Fraser for about 20 years and would occasionally hire him for labouring jobs.<\/p>\n

Mr Love, who is known to have a collection of heart-themed artwork, told the court he was “not particularly” a fan of Banksy and that he knew little about the street artist.<\/p>\n

The defendant, of North Stifford, Grays, Essex, denies burglary and the trial continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PA Media This limited edition print was returned to the Grove Gallery exhibition after it was recovered by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-144074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}