Walter Kershaw (pictured) fell in love with Catherine Mitchell and they had an affair when she asked him to paint her portrait
A renowned artist dubbed the ‘Original Banksy’ has been jailed for breaching a restraining order against a woman he became smitten with when she agreed to pose nude for him.
Walter Kershaw, 76, who is best known for his giant murals painted on the side of houses and industrial buildings, fell in love with Catherine Mitchell and they had an affair when she asked him to paint her portrait in 2006.
But, after the 12-month relationship ended, Kershaw began stalking his ex-lover around their hometown of Littleborough, Rochdale, a court heard at the time.
Kershaw, a father of two, followed Miss Mitchell around a supermarket, sent her letters and drove slowly past her home blowing kisses, as well as putting up one of three portraits he had painted of her in the window of his art gallery.
He was handed a two-year restraining order which stopped him from contacting Miss Mitchell and her mother, Marjorie, in 2013 – and was given a suspended prison sentence in 2015 after breaching the order.
Bury Magistrates’ Court heard that in 2015 Kershaw contacted Miss Mitchell’s mother by leaving a message on her answer machine saying he had ‘stupendous news’, which he followed up with a letter.
Laid bare: Kershaw fell in love with Miss Mitchell (left) after painting her nude – this picture (right), not of her, was on display in his gallery when he was given the restraining order in 2013
‘Original Banksy’ Kershaw’s allegedly put his victim’s portrait in the window of his gallery in Littleborough, near Rochdale, before he was given the restraining order
Speaking at the time Richard Birtwistle, defending Kershaw, said: ‘He had received the “stupendous” news which he mentioned in the phone message, that his work is now going on the syllabus at Oxford and Cambridge universities.
‘That means that the value of his work in a collection will increase significantly and so he wanted them to know that the artwork they possess has increased in value.’
Kershaw, who has been the subject of radio and TV documentaries and whose best-known work includes the Trafford Park murals of the early 1980s and 1990s, was jailed for 16 weeks, suspended for two years, and given an indefinite restraining order stopping him from contacting either his former partner or her mother, directly or indirectly.
Breath-taking style: A mural painting by Kershaw at Trafford Park, Old Trafford, in Manchester
He was also warned that he would be jailed if he breached the order again.
But in February this year Kershaw saw Miss Mitchell in the Co-op in Littleborough.
He followed her to the till and then into the car park, where he attempted to strike up a conversation with her.
At Manchester Magistrates’s Court last week Kershaw was jailed for a total of 26 weeks for breaching the restraining order and breaching a suspended sentence order. He was also ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge.
WALTER KERSHAW, THE UK’S ‘FIRST’ GRAFFITI ARTIST
Walter Kershaw became famous in the 1970s for his large-scale murals.
The painter reached international fame as a pioneer of street art and is still in work today painting large-scale, outdoor murals.
He gleaned the nickname ‘Original Banksy’ as a result of being the UK’s ‘first’ graffiti artist.
Kershaw (pictured) reached international fame as a pioneer of street art and is still in work today painting large-scale, outdoor murals
Kershaw is celebrated for distinctive murals such as The Inside Out House, painted on a building in Rochdale in 1976, and the Trafford Park Murals in Manchester, completed in the 1980s and 1990s.
His art has taken him all over the world, from Paris to Brazil and the Algarve to San Francisco.
Kershaw has appeared on radio and television, and his fans included Bob Monkhouse and George Best.