Banksy could finally be unmasked as graffiti artist is named in court battle

Secretive street artist Banksy has been finally unmasked after spray painting walls in the shadows for years.

The world-famous Brit managed to keep his identity a secret like an anonymous superhero of graffiti, until now as he appears to be revealed as former public schoolboy, Robin Gunningham. Tech used to track criminals first pointed the finger at Gunningham as far back as 2008 but nothing more was said or done on the matter to stand up the claims.

READ MORE: Banksy fans reckon they spotted mysterious artist at exhibition after Grim Reaper clue

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Now, however, a lawsuit has been filed against Gunningham, 53, and Banksy from graffiti pioneer Andrew Gallagher, 56, on grounds of defamation, according to the DailyMail. The first defendant of the lawsuit is named as Gunningham and the second is Banksy’s firm Pest Control Ltd.



Banksy has finally been unmasked
Banksy has finally been unmasked

The mysterious figure once attended the £9,240-a-year Bristol Cathedral School. The tech used to find him, often employed by law enforcement, is called “geographic profiling” and has a history of being used to catch serial offenders.

Mr Gallagher’s lawyer, Aaron Wood of Brandsmiths, told the DailyMail that details of the lawsuit are “confidential and will remain so until Banksy or Pest Control file their acknowledgement of service. For this reason.” He added: “I’m not at liberty to say any more about the claim.”



Robin Gunningham
Robin Gunningham at school

The identity of Banksy has remained a mystery for years with great effort having been made by the artist and his lawyers in the past to keep it so.

It has been previously reported that the identity of Banksy was “tagged” by experts at the Queen Mary University of London. They are understood to have used the technology by identifying a pattern between the locations where his work has most consistently appeared, coupled with addresses associated with Gunningham.



Banksy artwork
A Banksy artwork

Some 140 pieces of art were looked at by the researchers, who scanned through those thought to be his in both Bristol and London. This analysis then looked at “hotspots” where his work cropped up and used it to draw patterns to help nail down the identity of the artist.



The identity of Banksy has been hidden for so long
The identity of Banksy has been hidden for so long

The research found that the locations deemed hotspots were all those close to addresses lived in by Gunningham. Steve Le Comber, co-author of the study, said: “I’d be surprised if it’s not [Gunningham], even without our analysis – but it’s interesting that the analysis offers additional support for it.

“What I thought I would do is pull out the 10 most likely suspects, evaluate all of them and not name any. But it rapidly became apparent that there is only one serious suspect, and everyone knows who it is.”

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