A 49-year-old man from east London has been sentenced to 13 months in prison for stealing a limited edition Banksy print from an art gallery. The incident occurred in September last year when Larry Fraser broke into the Grove gallery in central London, smashing the glass door with a heavy object before making off with the signed and numbered print.
Fraser, who had been struggling to settle a historical drug debt, was caught on CCTV waiting outside the gallery for about 10 minutes before committing the burglary. He was subsequently taken to a location in London Docklands where he secreted the artwork, which was eventually recovered by police just days later after information was passed to them by a third party.
The print, valued at around £270,000, had been part of an exhibition showcasing a £1.5m collection of 13 Banksy pieces. While Fraser did not know the precise value of the print when he stole it, Judge Brown noted that he must have understood its significance.
This was not Fraser's first brush with trouble, however. He has 18 previous convictions, including robbery and unlawful wounding, and had been out of prison since 2008 after serving a sentence for these crimes. Mitigating for Fraser, his lawyer said that the value of the print had increased significantly since it was stolen.
Despite this, Judge Brown ruled that an immediate prison sentence was necessary due to the seriousness of the crime. The court's rapid response and professionalism in recovering the artwork were praised by the gallery's manager, who described being "completely shocked" but also relieved when he saw the recovered print.
A second man, James Love, had initially been accused of driving Fraser to the gallery as part of a getaway car, but was later cleared after a trial.
Fraser, who had been struggling to settle a historical drug debt, was caught on CCTV waiting outside the gallery for about 10 minutes before committing the burglary. He was subsequently taken to a location in London Docklands where he secreted the artwork, which was eventually recovered by police just days later after information was passed to them by a third party.
The print, valued at around £270,000, had been part of an exhibition showcasing a £1.5m collection of 13 Banksy pieces. While Fraser did not know the precise value of the print when he stole it, Judge Brown noted that he must have understood its significance.
This was not Fraser's first brush with trouble, however. He has 18 previous convictions, including robbery and unlawful wounding, and had been out of prison since 2008 after serving a sentence for these crimes. Mitigating for Fraser, his lawyer said that the value of the print had increased significantly since it was stolen.
Despite this, Judge Brown ruled that an immediate prison sentence was necessary due to the seriousness of the crime. The court's rapid response and professionalism in recovering the artwork were praised by the gallery's manager, who described being "completely shocked" but also relieved when he saw the recovered print.
A second man, James Love, had initially been accused of driving Fraser to the gallery as part of a getaway car, but was later cleared after a trial.
this guy frazer thinks stealing a £270k banksey is worth 13 months in the slammer? i mean, i get it, he's got a history and all that but c'mon, £270k is a life-changing sum of money... 
i guess you could say his lawyer did some maths that didn't quite add up for judge brown though 
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. But at the same time, it's not like he was hurt anyone or stole a whole lot of other stuff, just this one print 
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. I heard that some dude on Twitter shared a pic of the stolen artwork and it basically led to the police bein' able to track down Fraser 
. It's wild thinkin' about how quickly info spreads online these days 
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. And I'm guessin' the police were pretty cool too for gettin' there so fast 
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13 months in prison is kinda harsh, imo 
at least the art piece was recovered, that's a win 
but seriously, what's with the long history of getting into trouble? seems like a classic case of "you reap what you sow" 
I mean come on! Thirteen months for a stolen Banksy print?! 
That's some light sentencing if you ask me... I get it, he had some financial struggles and stuff, but this is art we're talking about here, not just some random valuable object! 
The fact that it was signed and numbered only adds to the value of it. But still, £270k is a nice chunk of change, even if it's not as much as he was hoping for... 
. And kudos to the gallery staff and police who were able to recover the artwork so quickly. It's just one of those things where you can't help but feel sorry for Fraser, even if his actions were wrong.
You'd think someone with 18 priors would know better than to swipe art worth that much dough 
. And kudos to the police for getting it back so fast - I imagine that must've been a stressful situation 
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). Hopefully Fraser gets some help and turns his life around 