A man on trial at Kingston Crown Court told jurors he took a Banksy print from a central London gallery because he wanted it "on his walls" as part of an existing collection of artwork featuring love hearts, the prosecution said.
The print, Girl with Balloon, valued at £270,000, was taken from the Grove Gallery in September last year and was later recovered by the Metropolitan Police after the defendant, 54-year-old James Love, provided its location, the court heard.
Prosecution barrister Philip Stott told the jury that Love, of North Stifford, Grays, Essex, had transferred £200 to a co-defendant, 48-year-old Larry Fraser, on the day of the offence. Fraser has already pleaded guilty to burglary. Mr Stott described Love as a "relatively successful builder" and said Fraser was "impoverished", with only £1.75 in his bank account the day before the theft.
Jurors were told that mobile phone data placed both men's phones in the vicinity of the Grove Gallery on the evening of the theft and that Fraser telephoned Love minutes after he smashed through the gallery door and removed the painting. The prosecution said Fraser then took the print into a nearby property, left it there and changed his top.
The trial heard evidence from a night watchman who was "startled" to find a "large painting" leaning by an interior doorway; the watchman told police the painting had not been there earlier that evening. Mr Stott said the two men pushed past the night watchman, collected the artwork and drove to a block of flats in the Isle of Dogs where Love unloaded the Banksy.
The barrister told jurors there were "a relatively large number of pictures, about four, featuring love hearts" on the walls of Love's home and that the stolen work was "consistent with those others." He argued that, given that collection, it was likely the print had been taken with a view to it eventually ending up at Love's home once attention had died down.
Love denies burglary. The trial continues at Kingston Crown Court, where the jury is expected to hear further evidence about the events surrounding the theft and the subsequent recovery of the artwork.