Housing contractors had ‘no idea’ they’d demolished mural by Banksy: ‘We were gutted’

‘It made me feel sick realising it was a Banksy,’ local contractor said

Banksy’s latest artwork has been destroyed.

The mural, titled Morning Has Broken, depicted a silhouetted boy in a window opening curtains made of corrugated iron alongside a cat who is peering out at the view.

The piece appeared on the wall of a derelict farmhouse in the seaside town of Herne Bay in Kent.

The famed street artist confirmed the work with a reel of three photos posted on his Instagram, the last of which showed the building mid-demolition.

The piece is shown in a full-length shot of the derelict property, which is covered in ivy, has peeling white paintwork and is missing roof slates on a side building.

There is a close-up of the artwork in another image and the third photograph shows demolition work being carried out on the building.

The final photograph shows that the wall on which the artwork originally appeared has been demolished, with the image also showing a digger, a skip and a pile of brick rubble on the ground as a workman looks on.

The skip company told the PA news agency that the bin that appears in one of the photographs was at a property in the seaside town of Herne Bay, Kent, and its only involvement in the project was in providing the bin.

One of the contractors tasked with demolishing the building revealed that they weren’t aware that the graffiti was by the famous artist.

George Caudwell, told KentOnline: “We had no idea it was a Banksy. It made me feel sick realising it was a Banksy – we were gutted.

“We started demolishing it yesterday. The landowner watched us do it and didn’t know either.”

Additional reporting from PA.