Friday, September 20, 2013

Banksy Arrested In London, Identity Revealed

Banksy arrested and identity revealed
London Police Chief Wayne Leppard speaking to reporters about the arrest of Banksy.
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 early this morning 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.
The City of 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.
As soon as news of the arrest was made, the City of London Police say they began receiving dozens of phone calls from people either claiming to be Banksy, or claiming to be with him. As of 6 PM London time, hundreds of people were gathered outside the London Police Department chanting “I’m Banksy!” and holding signs demanding his release. Various local news stations have reported witnessing the crowd parting for a blind woman who attempted to turn herself into authorities claiming that she was in fact the real Banksy.
London Police say they are not releasing any pictures of Horner or any further information at this time.

24 comments:

  1. Again? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/banksy-arrest-was-a-giant-haox_n_2745019.html

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  2. The part about counterfeit money makes no sense whatsoever unless it was planted for some insane reason

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    1. You need to watch exit through the gift shop then. He made counterfeit money "accidentally" by putting a different face on the bills. To my knowledge never actually did anything with them and kept them in storage in his studio.

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    2. A few years after the movie is released, you'd think a smart guy like him would have gotten rid of them or something. This article sounds a little fishy.

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    3. I'm Banksy and I wanted to make this clear. Every billboard being used for commercial profit for corporations and companies is an act of forced mental occupation. Art is individual or collective expression that hopefully will be celebrated and praised. Come on people, its time to wake up! Let's all pray for the day we all know the difference between the two.

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    4. I'm Banksy and I wanted to make this clear. Every billboard being used for commercial profit for corporations and companies is an act of forced mental occupation. Art is individual or collective expression that hopefully will be celebrated and praised. Come on people, its time to wake up! Let's all pray for the day we all know the difference between the two.

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  3. The link above was posted back in February. How does this apply to the recent 'arrest' hoax

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    1. cause they use the exact same name

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    2. Because they didn't even bother to change the details from the February hoax....

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  4. No source provided? Even just 30 seconds worth of Googling would have tipped you off to how fake this story is.

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  5. this is fake

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/banksy-arrest-was-a-giant-haox_n_2745019.html

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  6. this report is a hoax -- why do you still have it posted?

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  7. you have to stop paying your taxes immediately and stop supporting these systems. they cannot put everyone behind bars. stop paying taxes and supporting the corrupt establishment!

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  8. Good question, Anonymous (1). WHy is this hoax still posted as if real... unless this is a new piece of conceptual art by Banksy?

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  9. Hey, guess what! My name is actually Paul Jacobson, too! Isn't that funny?

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  10. I hate banksy. Send him down. Team Robbo

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    1. I'm Banksy and I wanted to make this clear. Every billboard being used for commercial profit for corporations and companies is an act of forced mental occupation. Art is individual or collective expression that hopefully will be celebrated and praised. Come on people, its time to wake up! Let's all pray for the day we all know the difference between the two.

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  11. I cannot wait to see what kind of artwork will inspire him coming out of this debacle?! ART IS FOREVER!

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  12. big deal. artists get arrested every day. he's got plenty of cash to spend on lawyers. bugger banksy. it's just another day on the streets. i don't see this kind of uproar when anyone else gets busted.

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  13. Why?? Do you enjoy spreading false rumour? .... and the BBC hyperlink for "authenticity"? - just links to BBC News Homepage - where even a search of the site shows nothing relevant about Banksy.

    Thank you to all who posted comments to correct this - for the rest of us, this is a lesson in verifying what you read on the internet.

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  14. At least we all know what an irresponsible liar Richard A Jacobson is now.

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  15. And the fact that he was doing a "residency" in New York on OCTOBER, the month after this supposed arrest, makes the whole report ludicrous. Multiple reports of his visiting NY, evidence of artwork clearly by him, and even setting up an old man to sell originals on a market stall. All reported in main stream media. Yet a protest by hundreds outside "the london police department" goes unreported? ha.

    oh, & btw its called "Scotland Yard" if you're trying to impress people with 7 month old recycled fake news reports.

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  16. hey this can not be true! look what banks just did after this:
    http://betterymagazine.com/news/banksy-painting-the-city/
    he is definitely not in jail or something ; )

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