Authors line up for book festival

A new mural has appeared on a London street wall at the site where a Banksy artwork was taken and is now for sale in the US.

The Banksy mural, depicting a boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting, disappeared from Whymark Avenue earlier this month.

It was expected to fetch up to £450,000 at auction in Miami last night

The new mural depicts a woman in a nun’s habit. Radio producer Andy Gordon was visiting relatives yesterday when he snapped the newest addition to Whymark Avenue in Haringey.

“We thought we were just going along to see the gap in the wall and were surprised to see something else had appeared.

“There was obviously a lot of affection for it in Wood Green and a lot of people were very disappointed when their Banksy disappeared.”

“It could be that Wood Green in Haringey has got its Banksy back. It could be a happy ending,” he added.

Local councillor Alan Strickland said residents had been left “really shocked and really astonished” at the disappearance of the mural of the boy.

“Banksy gave that piece of art to our community, and people came from all over London to see it,” he said.

Banksy’s work has been at the centre of a number of thefts over the years.

In May 2010, two pieces were stolen from a gallery in London, after a man used a road sign to smash a glass window at the front of the building.

A year later, a piece known as Sperm Alarm was ripped off the wall of a hotel in Central London, and appeared on eBay for £17,000. It was never recovered.