Art thief who tried to sell a Banksy on eBay: Vandal ripped 'Sperm Alarm' graffiti from London hotel wall and auctioned it for £17,000 Staff at central London hotel alerted police after noticing artwork was missing Lawrence was previously convicted of stealing a sculpture from a gallery in Brick Lane, east London, in July last year Police found images of the stolen Banksy artwork on Lawrence’s laptop http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/09/13/article-2202752-14FE14D9000005DC-384_306x423.jpg Court: Leon Lawrence (pictured here arriving at Southwark Crown Court) was convicted of attempting to convert criminal property, after the theft of the Banksy artwork from a hotel in central London A convicted art thief who tried to sell a stolen Banksy on eBay for £17,000 walked free from court again today. Leon Lawrence, 32, put the artwork - called Sperm Alarm - by the world famous graffiti artist up for auction after it was ripped from a hotel wall last year. He was traced after staff at the four-star Hesperia Hotel in Victoria, central London, noticed the piece was missing and spotted it for sale online. Southwark Crown Court heard Lawrence admitted stealing a sculpture from a gallery in Brick Lane, east London, and was given a community order in July last year. Lawrence had used his account LeonLeon to try and sell the Banksy between February 9 and April 4, 2011. The artwork attributed to the guerrilla graffiti artist, which shows 15 sperm swarming round a red sprinkler alarm, has never been recovered. Edward Franklin, prosecuting, said staff at the hotel had noticed the artwork as soon as it had been produced. ‘Staff realised it was there, and they also realised when someone had come along and taken their panel,' he said. ‘That piece of panel, with Banksy’s design on it, dubbed the ‘Sperm Alarm’ was later put for sale on eBay and they contacted the police. ‘The seller on eBay was registered at LeonLeon and by working out who that person was, Mr Lawrence entered into their investigation. ‘He was trying to sell this stolen art.’ Police found images of the work on Lawrence’s his laptop. ‘One picture shows the panel, and the space where the panel was, having been removed,’ Mr Franklin said. ‘Another image from Mr Lawrence’s computer shows the panel itself having been removed. ‘Another [image] shows the Sperm Alarm in the process of being framed. http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/09/13/article-2202752-14FE14BE000005DC-189_306x423.jpg http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/09/13/article-2202752-14FE14C9000005DC-397_306x423.jpg The wall after the theft of Sperm Alarm Before and after: The Banksy art work 'Sperm Alarm' was rippted from the wall of the Hesperia Hotel in Victoria, central London Mr Franklin said web pages from the auction site, where it would appear he tried to sell the artwork for £17,000, were also found. Lawrence claimed a friend named ‘Arek’ had given him the artwork and he had no reason to be suspicious. He was convicted unanimously by a jury of attempting to convert criminal property, but cleared of a single count of handling stolen goods. The judge, Mr Recorder Peter Lodder QC handed Lawrence a suspended sentence and said: ‘You were convicted by the jury of attempting to convert or transfer criminal property. ‘That criminal property was a section of wall which bore a Banksy work of graffiti art which you attempted to sell for £17,000. ‘I bear in mind that value, I also bear in mind that the section of wall was stolen on February 11, 2011, and found on your computer was a photo showing you had possession of that artwork by just before 2pm the next day. ‘Your recent criminal activity seems to be focused on pieces of art.’ http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/09/13/article-2202752-14FE14CD000005DC-113_634x371.jpg Stolen: Mr Lawrence attempted to sell the artwork for £17,000 on eBay (pictured) But the judge said letters written by his family had swayed him away from jailing Lawrence, who first began offending in 1996. ‘You are lucky to have such devoted support despite your criminal offending. ‘So I’m prepared to give you a final chance by suspending that sentence. Do not fail.’ He was sentenced to nine months in jail, suspended, for 12 months, and ordered to carry out 240 hours unpaid work. He was also made the subject of a 12 month supervision order. Lawrence of Covent Garden, central London, was found guilty of attempting to convert criminal property, but cleared of handling stolen goods.
