A director at the London company auctioning the Turnpike Lane Banksy said this could be the last chance for it to remain in London.

Tony Baxter, of the Sincura Group, said the owner had already found a private American buyer for the graffiti art entitled Slave Labour.

He added that his company found the piece to give the British public a final chance to see it and hopefully buy it.

Mr Baxter said: “I really hope a London buyer comes along buys the painting and donates it either back to the Haringey community or to a museum.

“The painting was about to disappear into a private collection but we went to a lot of trouble to find it and convince the owner to let us show it one last time.

“I’m on the side of Haringey’s council and community and I’m just trying to do what I can to give the people a chance to see the work before it goes.”

The artwork, which shows a young boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting, was removed from the side of Poundland in February.

It is now up for sale at an auction in the London Film Museum in Wellington Street, Covent Garden on June 2.

The Sincura Group director added: “I’m making no financial gain from this and the piece will definitely be in the auction.

“We have been receiving a lot of abuse from people about our involvement but if we don’t show it then the Banksy will disappear and no one will ever see it again.

“There was nothing illegal about the way the piece was obtained so we have done nothing wrong.”

Both Scotland Yard and the FBI have issued statements that there is no evidence of criminality involved in the removal of the illegally-painted mural.

Councillor Alan Strickland, Haringey Borough Council’s cabinet member for economic development and social inclusion, has been leading a campaign to stop the sale and have the artwork pulled from the auction.

He said: “The piece was given quite freely by Banksy to the people of Wood Green and this seems to run contrary to that spirit.

“We would like to see the piece returned to this community and we managed to stop its sale before and that just off a twitter campaign with zero budget.

“People are concerned that this sort of behaviour puts other street art at risk and so we are determined to keep making out voices heard.”