Banksy mural that vanished 
is back on sale

Slave Labour, which shows a young boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting, appeared on a wall in Wood Green, north London, last May, just before the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

It disappeared from the side of the Poundland store in February and then appeared in Miami for auction, but was withdrawn at the last minute after protests from Haringey Council.

But the work is now up for sale at an auction in Covent Garden on June 2 by the Sincura Group, which said it had been “sensitively restored under a cloak of secrecy”, and will go on show alongside pieces by Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol.

Wood Green councillor Alan Strickland said: “This is a piece of art given to the community for public enjoyment. It belongs with the people of north London, not a private owner.”