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 do n'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 . 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 can not 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 .
Artwork first appeared on side of pub in Hounslow , west London , in the weekend . Showed a girl in pigtails with the word 'smile ' in brightly coloured letters . Over 2007 , it was defaced and now only her eyes remain visible . Locals are furious , saying it had been the 'only decent thing ' in the area .