Local MP Lynne Featherstone has today issued a public statement to the current owners of the missing Banksy piece, which was removed from a wall in Turnpike Lane in February.

The Liberal Democrat MP has ‘called on the consciences’ of the current owners, and urged them to ‘do the right thing’ and return the piece to Turnpike Lane, before it is too late.

The owners have allowed the Sincura Group to auction the piece on the 2^nd of June, at an exhibition in Covent Garden, London. If it is not sold at the exhibition, the owners will sell the piece directly to an American collector.

The Sincura Group claim to have ‘no doubt’ that people who currently possess the piece are indeed the legal owners.

Lynne Featherstone MP issued the following statement:

“On June 2nd, the Sincura Group plan to put the infamous Banksy piece up for auction at an exhibition in Covent Garden, London. The piece was removed without warning from Turnpike Lane in February – to the dismay of local residents.

“Sincura do not own the piece.  The Sincura Director says that he is ‘the good guy’ – that he has put a lot of work into finding the piece and its owners. He is exhibiting it in the hope that it will be sold to someone who will either return it, or keep it somewhere with public access. This is admirable, perhaps, but also incredibly optimistic.

“If the piece isn’t sold on the night, Sincura say the ‘owners’ will sell it directly to an American collector. The piece will then be lost for good.

“This has left us campaigners in a catch 22. We don’t want the piece to be up for auction and bought by a random private buyer. We don’t want the piece sold to a collector who will keep it in a warehouse. We want our Banksy back in its rightful place – the streets and community of Turnpike Lane.

“So now I make this direct plea to the owners of the Banksy piece: You have this one last chance to do the right thing. You have deprived a community of an asset that was given to us for free and greatly enhanced an area that needed it. I call on you, and your consciences, to pull the piece from both potential sales, and return it to its rightful place.”