A painting honoring the late daughter of two stars from The Block, intended to generate funds for neonatal intensive care, has been stolen in a daring art theft in Melbourne’s north.
A suspect broke into the Cheltenham gallery around 3am yesterday, removing art from the walls before the alarm sounded and escaping with what he could quickly seize.
Footage showed him throwing $80,000 worth of art into the back of a ute.
One of the several stolen pieces has left some broken-hearted.
It was a painting honouring Billie, the newborn daughter The Block’s Dan Reilly and Dani Wales lost late last year.
The $23,000 piece was going to raise money for Billie’s Besties fund, which supports work at The Women’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Wales said the money was going to “help save lives”. 
”It is very emotional, it still is, and still very connected to the outcomes of what happens to that work,” artist Kerry Armstrong said.
“It just encapsulated how they feel about Billie, and they’ll always be Billie’s parents, and that’s what it was meant to convey.”
Armstrong is offering a substantial reward for anyone with information that leads to its recovery.
She’s got the support of Wales and Reilly.
“An incredibly kind person did something they didn’t have to do to honour our daughter because of the impact the loss had on her,” Wales said.
“It’s just heartless. Kerry put everything, her love, everything into this artwork for Billie and us,” Reilly said. 
Investigations are ongoing.
