A famous Banksy once valued at a million pounds which “fell” off a wall appears to be for sale on Facebook.
The elusive artist created ‘spy booth’ depicting three ‘spooks’ snooping on a phone box with listening devices near GCHQ in Cheltenham, Glos., in 2014.
But it was reduced to a pile of rubble when builders worked on the wall above the artwork and it collapsed last summer.
Building owner David Possee took the bits to the council for safekeeping, but yesterday the broken pieces appeared for sale on Facebook.
The seller ‘G-City Graf Slaps’ claims the pieces – depicting three spies’ faces – were “saved” and are now for sale to people making “serious offers”.
The advert said: “I have been given the opportunity to sell these original Banksy pieces on the open market.
“Originally located near GCHQ Cheltenham. Due to local government being a load of tw**s, this original had to be removed from wall.
“Pic shows what was saved. These three are up for sale! Can be confirmed with letter of home owner and press releases. Serious offers only.”
The artwork has been defaced and vandalised several times and the council granted the building Grade II listed status in 2015 to protect it from further damage.
But home owner David said it became a problem because he was then unable to rent the house out – leaving him struggling financially.
The art was accidentally destroyed after builders attempted to remove rendering on the same wall in August 2016.
David loaded up the destroyed artwork in the back of his van and took it to Cheltenham Borough Council.
Speaking at the time, Mark Nelson, enforcement manager at Cheltenham Borough Council, said: “The owner has left pieces of the render with attached Banksy Spy Booth mural on it with the council whilst investigations are continuing.
“We would advise anyone against removing any further pieces from the location as this may be classed as a criminal offence.
“Until the investigation is complete we are unable to say what if any further action will be taken”.
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
