Banksy Gets Paid, Painted Over

Graffiti art by the acclaimed artist Banksy on streets in Tower Hamlets is to be painted over.

Stencilled artwork from the guerrilla artist can be seen on walls across London, but Tower Hamlets is the first council to treat them as vandalism.

The plan comes as 11 pieces of the artist's work go on sale on Wednesday.

Banksy, from Bristol, made his name with public art and subversive stunts. His works now sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

A stencilled image of two policeman[sic], titled "Avon and Somerset Constabulary", sold for £96,000 at London auctioneers Bonhams, thought to be a new auction-house record for the self-styled guerrilla artist who refuses to reveal his real name.

The previous record was £57,000, paid last October for his picture of Mona Lisa with spray paint dripping from her eyes.

"Di Faced Tenners", a painted sheet of fake £10 notes bearing the face of Diana, Princess of Wales, was knocked down for £24,000, against an estimate of £5,000-£7,000. His 11 works sold for more than £540,000.

Once confining himself to witty graffiti images which would appear overnight in streets in London and his hometown of Bristol, Banksy has now become a major mainstream painter collected by celebrities.