THEY were notorious for being East London gangsters, but now the Kray twins have become victims of crime themselves – after urban art of the pair was stolen from a derelict building.

Dilapidated terraced houses in Southchurch Avenue, Southend, had become popular with residents, after local artist John Bulley adorned them with paintings of famous film gangster Micheal Caine, who played Jack Carter in Get Carter, and Bob Hoskins, who played gangster Harold Shand in the Long Good Friday.

Kray twins– Ronald “Ronnie” Kray and Reginald “Reggie” Kray – were also depicted on a house’s crumbling walls, but a thief tried to steal part of the painting.

The irony is not lost on urban artist John Bulley, who adorned the building with the artwork without permission in July, as a protest about alternative artists having nowhere to go display their craft.

He said: “Some criminal has stolen my criminals.

“It’s no drunk that has taken it. Whoever did it needed a ladder, they would have planned it.

“I am not stupid enough to think that if you put something in the street youwon’t have some idiot either tag it or try to rip it off, but lots of people have said to me that they are really annoyed about it.

“The response was amazing.

It’s really sad, but I’m chuffed people liked it. It isn’t graffiti, it’s urban art and people thought it was funny because it’s just a load of villains. I was cheering Southend up a bit and making it look better.”

The thief had only managed to rip half the painting from the wall, leaving one Kray twin holding a cup of tea, without an arm.

The exact time and date of the theft is not known and Mr Bulley has not reported it to the police as he painted it without permission.

Mr Bulley, who is from Southchurch, has revealed Southend will be getting another piece of his artwork on a derelict site in the coming days, though he is yet to divulge where.

Mr Bulley, who also helps organise the Estuary Fringe festival, said: “I did this because none of us alternative artists have anywhere to go and it was, quite literally, driving me up the wall.”