Banksy: Council 'appalled' at Lowestoft mural vandalism

Vandalism of a mural originally created by street artist Banksy has left a council "appalled".

The piece, featuring a rodent sipping a cocktail in a deckchair, was left by the elusive artist on a wall at North Beach, Lowestoft, Suffolk, during his "Great British Spraycation".

On Saturday, security guards patrolling the area discovered someone defacing the work, East Suffolk Council said.

The authority said it was "hopeful" it could be restored.

A spokeswoman for the council said it was "engaging with specialists" about restoring the artwork and asked the public "not to try and repair the work themselves".

The mural was one of 10 artworks left by Banksy in Norfolk and Suffolk during his so-called "spraycation", with the first appearing on Friday 6 August and others discovered in subsequent days.

The council spokeswoman said: "We are naturally appalled someone has chosen to behave in such a selfish and mindless way, given how excited we are all by the appearance of these works here on the east coast."

The spokeswoman added the council had placed an order for protective materials to "safeguard" the works in Lowestoft and Oulton Broad and it hoped to complete the work soon.

"In the interim, we have also employed security patrols to visit each site and on this occasion, our patrols actually interrupted the individual defacing this work and prevented any further damage occurring," she said.

"Information from this is now being passed to the police."

Faye Louise Stone, 24, who went to visit the mural on Saturday night, said she was "shocked" to find it had been vandalised.

"It's an amazing piece of work and it's been ruined. People obviously have nothing better to do.

"It's not every day that Banksy comes and does artwork in our town. We should embrace it, not destroy it."

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