Banksy Rhino artwork in Charlton, London, defaced

A new mural unveiled by street artist Banksy has been defaced in south-east London.

The piece, which shows a rhino mounting a Nissan Micra with a traffic cone on its bonnet, was spray painted with a tag by a man wearing a black balaclava at around 19:45 BST.

Stephanie Lester, a witness who spoke to BBC News, said the man had “walked away from a jeering crowd”.

It had earlier appeared in Charlton and was confirmed on Banksy’s Instagram account.

The now-defaced rhino was the eighth new London piece by Banksy in eight days.

Another witness, Devan Vadukul, told the BBC a “random youth” in a balaclava had “brazenly walked up and defaced the installation with a graffiti tag”.

He added: “The whole incident took place within less than 30 seconds before he disappeared with another male accomplice further down the road.”

The incident comes a day after Banksy painted swimming piranhas on to a City of London Police sentry box, which was first spotted on Sunday morning.

The translucent fish formed the seventh piece in an animal-themed art series across the capital.

On Monday, the City of London Corporation said the artwork had been removed to a “safe location”.

A spokesperson said: “We have moved the artwork to Guildhall Yard to ensure it is properly protected and open for the public to view safely.

“A permanent home for the piece will be decided in due course.”

On 5 August, a goat appeared on the side of a building near Kew Bridge, followed by an image of two elephants touching trunks on the side of a house in Chelsea on Tuesday.

Three monkeys hanging from a bridge in Brick Lane then drew crowds on Wednesday.

On Thursday, a howling wolf on a satellite dish – which looked like the animal was howling at the Moon – was installed on to a garage roof in Peckham.

But just a few hours later it was seen taken down by men and carried off down Rye lane.

The artist is neither connected to nor endorses the theft of the wolf design and they have “no knowledge as to the dish’s current whereabouts”, Banksy’s press team confirmed.

On Friday, locals in Walthamstow woke up to find two pelicans fishing above a fish shop.

And on Saturday, a stencil of a cat having a stretch appeared on an empty billboard in Cricklewood.

Crowds booed as the piece in Cricklewood was dismantled by three men who said they had been “hired” by a “contracting company” to take down the billboard for safety reasons.

In the historic Old Bailey courts on Monday, Judge Mark Lucraft KC discharged a jury after it failed to reach a verdict in a death by careless driving trial and suggested they might enjoy the weather with a visit to the nearby Banksy instead.