£100,000 Banksy painting of pouting young girl now worthless after vandal painted over it so she is wearing a BURKHA

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A suspected Banksy of a pouting young girl is believed to now be worthless after a vandal painted over it so she is now wearing a burkha.

The artwork, which first appeared on the side of the North Star pub in Hounslow, west London, in 2007, was defaced over the weekend.

The 6ft tall mural, thought to be worth £100,000, has the word 'smile' in brightly coloured letters written above the girl, originally pictured in pigtails - but now only her eyes remain visible.

The Banksy of a pouting young girl in Hounslow, which first appeared in 2007 (left) was defaced over the weekend to show the girl wearing a burkha, leaving only her eyes visible

Local residents were left furious after the work - believed to be worth more than £100,000 - was vandalised, adding it had been the 'only thing that made them smile in Hounslow'.

Sandra D'Souza said she was 'horrified' when she saw the defaced artwork.

She said: 'I'm sure it brought a smile to the face of lots of other people passing by and it's such a shame it's been defaced like this.'

Sam Spencer, 32, added: 'I was walking to Hounslow station on Sunday, which is right near the Banksy and saw the girl had been covered with a burkha.

'I don't know what is wrong with people around here - it's about the only thing Hounslow has got going for it and now it's ruined.'

Twitter user @missfab2014 said the work was the 'only decent thing' in Hounslow and urged the artist to fix it

A Twitter user, known as Ems, urged the artist to come and fix the work.

She said: 'The only decent thing in Hounslow and now look at it #banksy @thereaIbanksy come sort it out pls!!' 

Soon after the mural appeared in 2007, Paul Riley, the then landlord of the North Star pub - now a bar called Platform 3 - installed CCTV to stop the Banksy being vandalised.

It is not known if the cameras are still in place.

He said at the time: 'I phoned the council to tell them not to paint over it because it was a work of art. 

'They came to look at it and agreed with me. I think it is lovely.' 

UPDATE: A representative for Banksy has confirmed to MailOnline that the work is not by the artist. The work has now been restored.

BANKSY DEFACED: ELUSIVE ARTIST'S WORK IS A MAGNET FOR VANDALISM

Because of the value attached to many of Banky's pieces, his work had long been targeted by thieves hoping to sell stolen work for huge amounts.

But they've also been attacked by vandals - some rival graffiti artists - for no other apparent purpose than to deface and destroy the work. 

His Spybooth painting, featuring three 1950s-style agents, wearing brown trench coats and trilby hats, using devices to tap into conversations at a telephone box, appeared in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in April last year.

It soared in value when Banksy confirmed it was one of his pieces - and the wall was boarded up but a bidding war ensued as locals tried to raise an estimated £1million to secure it for the town.

It was defaced a few months later - and last month, the stencil was granted Grade II-listed status.

The 'Spybooth' Banksy in Cheltenham features three agents, wearing brown trench coats and trilby hats, using devices to tap into conversations at a telephone box. Pictured left, in 2014 and right, its defaced state

But the owner of the property it is on says the work has 'ruined his life'. David Possee, 45, says he has been unable to remove and sell the work - and cannot carry out building work to make the house habitable.

Last year, a Banksy painting of a woman staring at an empty plinth on the wall of an amusement arcade in Folkestone, Kent, was valued at £300,000.

The local council quickly placed a perspex cover over the mural to protect it, heading off a potential disastrous act of vandalism when someone later crudely scrawled a penis on the plinth. 

Last October, a large mural in the elusive artist's hometown of Bristol - dubbed 'The Girl With The Pierced Eardrum' - had paint thrown over it days after it appeared.

The work, a parody of the famous Girl With A Pearl Earring by Dutch master Vermeer, had a yellow alarm box replacing the earring from the original painting.