Couple smash and grab a nice pair of Banksy prints

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg's promise to properly regulate the use of CCTV cameras in Britain - just one of the measures he announced this morning in "the biggest shake-up of our democracy in 178 years" - has come a little late for a London couple who appear to have decided on the spur of the moment to steal a pair of Banksy prints.

London police are looking for witnesses who might have seen the suspects, described as white and aged between 30 and 40, smash the window of a London gallery and steal two limited edition prints by the graffiti artist. The theft took place at Art Republic in New Compton Street, Soho on May 1 but has only now been publicised.

It appears not to have been a well-planned robbery, but an impromptu act. The man apparently broke the glass with a road sign while the woman acted as lookout.

CCTV pictures show the man wearing a white tracksuit and blue baseball cap while his accomplice/wife/mistress is dressed in a long, dark coat.

Both prints are roughly 3ft by 4ft. The first, Happy Choppers, is number 118 in an edition of 750 and was on sale at the print and poster specialists for £8,750.

The second, Nola [Grey Rain] (pictured above, in its original form in New Orleans), is number 15 in an edition of 63 and was priced at £7,700.

Whether Banksy himself will regret the theft is debatable: he claims on his own website that he neither endorses nor profits from the making of prints - nor T-shirts and mugs, for that matter. ·