FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb. 22, 2013
- London, England — The England-based graffiti artist, political
activist, film director, and painter that for years has gone by the
pseudonymous name of Banksy, was arrested yesterday by police in London.
After hours of questioning and a raid of his London art studio, his
true name and identity have finally been revealed.

London Police
say Banksy’s real name is Paul William Horner, a 39-year old male born
in Bristol, England. The BBC has also confirmed this information with
his PR agent Jo Brooks and the website that acts as a handling service
on behalf of the artist, Pest Control.

London Police Chief Wayne
Leppard held a press conference to answer questions about how Banksy was
finally apprehended. “We had a 24-hour Anti-Graffiti Task Force
monitoring different groups known to have associated with Banksy. We
received word that around 2am a group of individuals left a flat
speculated to be one of Banky’s art studios. This group was followed by
agents and once vandalism had occurred, we then arrested the group, 5
men total. These individuals all had ID on them except for one, and that
is the one we believed to be Banksy,” Leppard said. “We then raided the
studio where this group was last seen leaving from. Inside we found
thousands of dollars of counterfeit money along with future projects of
vandalism. We also found a passport and ID of a Paul William Horner who
matched the description of the man that we are currently holding.”
Leppard continued, “Horner is currently being held without bail on
charges of vandalism, conspiracy, racketeering and counterfeiting. We
are also holding the other four individuals whose names we are not
releasing at this time.”

After today’s arrest it is unclear who
else will be sought in connection with Banksy’s arrest. CNN spoke with
Kyle Brock who is a project manager for Banksy says he is now worried
that charges could be brought against him also. “If they spent this many
man-hours and brought this many charges against Banksy, I can’t imagine
that he’ll be the only one to go down in all of this,” Brock said. “All
the beauty Paul Horner brought to this world, and the London Police can
only see it as vandalism. It’s such a shame.”

The graffiti
artist that goes by the name Space Invader told reporters he does not
agree with the arrest or outing of Banksy’s identity. “He’s just doing
art. That’s what he was doing and that’s what he’ll continue to do,”
Invader said. “For the London Police to setup some 24-hour task force
just to catch Banksy is ridiculous. I hope we hear plenty of noise from
the good tax-paying citizens of London about this.”

Banksy’s
identity was long speculated to be Robin Gunningham, a man born in
Bristol, England in 1973. Known for his contempt for the government in
labeling graffiti as vandalism, Banksy displays his art on public walls
and even going as far as to build physical prop pieces. He does not sell
his work directly; however, art auctioneers have been known to attempt
to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal
in the hands of the winning bidder.

London Police are not releasing any pictures of Horner or any further information at this time.