British
Bugle

A man tried to destroy a Banksy mural after hearing it was being moved from Wales to England, a court heard. The image depicts a child enjoying snow falling on one side while the other side reveals it was from a fire emitting ash.

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Michael Thomas, 42, tried to break his way into a Port Talbot building to spray the £500,000 artwork with white paint on November 26th last year. Swansea Crown Court heard Thomas was angry the piece had been sold to a fan of the graffiti artist in London. Thomas was given a fourteen-month suspended sentence after admitting attempted burglary and criminal damage.

 

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Banksy’s Season’s Greetings

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Ian Lewis, 55, had found the mural on his garage a week before Christmas three years ago, and is known to have said that the whole experience had been life changing. 

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Popularly known as Season's Greetings, it had been sold to art collector and Essex-based gallery owner John Brandler, who said he will keep the graffiti work in the town for “a minimum of two to three years. It’s where it belongs.” The mural had sparked a frenzy after it appeared on the steel worker's garage in December 2018.

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The garage owner was relieved to have sold it to Mr Brandler. He had turned down higher offers to keep the Banksy artwork in Port Talbot. Mr Lewis said that the sale was a weight off his shoulders. There were lots of offers from art collectors and dealers… “people who wanted to take it away basically.”

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Brandler Galleries, owned by Mr Brandler, has several works by the Bristolian artist. He had paid more than £100,000 for this artwork, now estimated at half a million pounds. Port Talbot council had put up a temporary structure around the Banksy after it appeared on the side of a garage in 2018.

 

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The Court Case

 

The court heard how Michael Thomas of Mayfield Road, Port Talbot, tried to break into the building just days after it was announced that the artwork was set to leave Wales.

Prosecutor Sian Cotter told the court that neighbours called the police after hearing Thomas breaking a window at 05:30 GMT. “Witnesses heard him saying, ‘It's the only thing in Port Talbot and they are taking it away,’” she said. “Thomas intended to destroy the painting so no-one else could have it.”

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A couple and their five-year-old child heard the defendant shouting, “It's for us. They're taking it away. Some rich man has it.” Another witness heard Thomas shouting, “I'm going to kill it.”

The court heard how Season's Greetings was valued at half-a-million pounds.

 

Ms Cotter said, “Thomas called police to say he’d committed the damage in anger because he didn't want the painting to leave Port Talbot. He said the work was being moved to England and that made him angry, so he decided to destroy it.”

Jonathan Tarrant, defending, said it was more of a protest than an act of criminal intent and it was unlikely Thomas would reoffend.

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Judge Geraint Walters told him, “There was an intention to move the Banksy artwork out of Port Talbot to the London area, and that angered you. It may well be that it was not Banksy's intention that the painting should ever leave Port Talbot. I am aware the decision to remove the work has caused consternation in some quarters."

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The judge said Thomas reacted “bizarrely” by breaking into the building with the intention of destroying the Banksy. He added, “This work does now belong to an individual who has had to pay for it. The commercial reality is that it is a work of art of great value and now it’s in private ownership.”

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Thomas was ordered to pay £1,058 compensation and must wear an electronic tag for twelve weeks.