Reading Prison Banksy vandalised
Red paint has been used to cover part of it while the words 'Team Robbo' have been written below
Last updated 16th Mar 2021
A Banksy on the side of Reading's former prison has been vandalised with red paint.
The artwork, on the wall of the former Reading Prison which once housed Oscar Wilde, showed an inmate escaping lockdown using a knotted spool of paper from a typewriter.
This morning, pictures emerged showing the piece, entitled Create Escape, had been defaced with red paint covering the typewriter, with the phrase “Team Robbo” below.
It's believed to be a reference to graffiti artist King Robbo, who was in a long-running feud with Banksy before his death in 2014.
Their rivalry is believed to have begun in 2009, when Banksy painted over one of King Robbo’s tags by Regent’s Canal in Camden.
Banksy confirmed the piece was his work in footage told in the parody of an instructional art video.
The video is set to archive commentary from an episode of The Joy Of Painting with Bob Ross.
It shows Banksy picking up and carrying a ladder, then picking out spray cans, in the dark.
Banksy places a stencil for the piece of the wall of Reading Prison and sprays it with paint.
An attempt was made to remove the graffiti by a well-meaning member of the public earlier but a local conservationist said that could do more harm than good. A security guard from the prison was standing by it to avoid anyone else attempting to remove it without professional expertise.
Reading Prison is renowned as the location where Oscar Wilde served two years’ hard labour for “gross indecency”.
Although the site closed to prisoners in 2013, its future is currently the focus of fierce debate.
Reading Borough Council submitted its bid for the site to the Ministry of Justice yesterday.
There are fears that if the bid is unsuccessful, the Grade II-listed site could be sold to property developers.
Reacting to the images this morning which appeared on the Ministry of Justice land at the vacant prison site, Reading Borough Council Leader Jason Brock said:
“This is obviously hugely disappointing following the initial excitement in Reading recently when Banksy’s artwork appeared. How anyone can somehow think this is acceptable is completely beyond me, even if this is an extension of a historic feud, as is being suggested. There is understandable anger across the town today.
“The vacant Reading Goal site, including the perimeter wall which Banksy’s artwork is on, is private land owned by the Ministry of Justice.
“When the original artwork appeared, the Council made contact with the Ministry of Justice to ask it to make suitable arrangements to protect the image. We will now be contacting them again to see what action it intends to take. I've seen many people supporting the idea of restoring the artwork, which I also back in principle. As long as the site remains in the Ministry of Justice's ownership, however, they would need to take the lead in facilitating this.”
The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.
The campaign to turn the site into an arts hub has won the support of Stephen Fry, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Natalie Dormer and Kate Winslet.
Wilde was jailed after being convicted of gross indecency in 1895 following a retrial and later penned his final published work The Ballad Of Reading Gaol.