Police are investigating the attempted theft of a Steve McQueen painting from a bar in Belfast.

The artwork was removed from Bullitt Hotel on Ann Street on Sunday night.

Two women in their 60s – one wearing a zebra print jacket and the other with a walking aid – are thought to have been involved.

However, the hotel’s general manager Michael Sullivan said: “It wasn’t quite the Great Escape it’s been billed as.

“The unlikely perpetrators were foiled in their attempts when they couldn’t fit the painting in their vehicle."

In a Facebook post, police added: “The females made their ‘getaway’ onto Victoria Street in the direction of the police station.

“Mr McQueen was later recovered, with some damage caused, near a restaurant on Donegal Quay and has been returned back to the bar.”

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to come forward.