For decades Banksy has daubed his work on the streets under the cover of darkness and kept his identity a closely guarded secret.
But now the graffiti artist, who has built a fortune worth tens of millions of pounds, may be unmasked as part of a £1.3 million legal claim against him in the High Court.
Andrew Gallagher has filed a lawsuit accusing “the artist known as Banksy” of defamation, with the co-defendant named as Pest Control Ltd, the company that sells his artwork.
Gallagher’s company, Brandalised, was involved in a tie-up with the fashion retailer Guess last autumn in which the clothing company used Banksy images.
In a now-deleted post allegedly made on November 18, Banksy’s Instagram account, which has 12 million followers, used