Folkestone’s Banksy is back home.

The piece, entitled Art Buff was wheeled through the Quarterhouse’s stage door in a crate on a fork lift truck to an excited crowd of staff this morning.

The artwork’s return to the town happened just yards from where it first emerged during last year’s Triennial.

It follows a lengthy legal wrangle between the Creative Foundation and the Godden family - whose Dreamland Leisure company runs the amusement arcade where the mural appeared.

The piece has been brought back from storage in the USA.

The Foundation finally won a High Court battle last month when judge Mr Justice Arnold ruled Dreamland Leisure did not have the right to remove the mural and claim ownership.

The Creative Foundation gained the legal rights to the wall in Payers Park from the building’s landlords and as a result of the decision took ownership of the piece.

The Foundation said it has not yet decided where the Banksy will be displayed and conservation experts have been checking its condition today.

But chief executive Alastair Upton previously said he would love to see it on display outside again.

Many residents were outraged when Dreamland Leisure cut out the the piece to sell it at auction in the USA.

The piece, however, failed to sell after being valued at around £500,000 by the owners and agents trying to sell the piece.

Earlier this year, the Creative Foundation secured an injunction through the courts preventing the piece from being sold on.

Banksy listed the piece on his website shortly after the painting appeared, calling it Art Buff and adding the caption: “Part of the Triennial. Sort of.”