Banksy said he is “kind of glad” his latest piece of artwork has been vandalised, as he released a series of sketches of it.

Residents in the Barton Hill area of Bristol awoke on February 13 to find the striking piece on the side of a building.

The artwork, in Marsh Lane, featured a stencilled image of a girl firing a slingshot of red flowers and leaves.

Within days, the piece was vandalised with pink spray paint reading “BCC WANKERS” scrawled across it.

As a result, the family who own the property have put temporary fencing in place and will install CCTV.

In a post on Instagram, Banksy wrote: “I’m kind of glad the piece in Barton Hill got vandalised. The initial sketch was a lot better…”

He posted three images showing sketches of the girl in the piece.