Banksy's ID could soon be unmasked - everything we know ahead of court case

20 February 2024 , 18:49

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Banksy graffiti 'Rage, Flower Thrower' is seen on December 17, 2023 in Bethlehem, West Bank (Image: Getty Images)

The identity of elusive graffiti artist Banksy has been the subject of much speculation for years - and it could be confirmed in a matter of days.

Many clues point towards Robin Gunningham, from Bristol, including a photo which appeared to show him working on a famous piece in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2004. The anonymous artist is subject of High Court legal action accusing him of defamation, with it understood the case could expose him.

His co-defendant is the artist's company Pest Control Ltd, which sells his work. Andrew Gallagher, 56, has taken the case against the famed graffiti artist. Gunningham appears to have lived in the same locations at the time certain artworks popped up. In 1998, he was living in Easton, Bristol, when the Mild Mild West sign - showing a stuffed bear with a Molotov - appeared.

Two years later, his signature artwork appeared in London while he was living in a flat in Hackney. But his former flatmate and pal Luke Egan previously said: "I lived with a guy, with Robin Gunningham. But he wasn't [Banksy] then. I lived with him ages ago. I don't think Banksy was around then anyway."

This photo of Robin Gunningham was taken in Jamaica in 2004 (YouTube)

The artist is understood to be married to lobbyist Joy Millward, with the pair tying the knot in Las Vegas in 2006. They are thought to have met in 2003, around the time she began working for Labour MP Austin Mitchell. Sources indicate the couple live in an isolated

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The Jamaica photo - which emerged in 2008 - showed a man wearing dark jeans and a navy button up shirt over a white T-shirt, surrounded by stencils and spray paint. The photo was taken by Peter Dean Rickards and claimed it was Banksy. It was also alleged he had fallen out with the artist, telling the Evening Standard his former pal "swanned around Jamaica as if he owned the place".

Former curator at Bristol's Here Gallery, Camilla Stacey, bought a property that Gunningham and Egan had rented in 2000. She claimed he had left pieces of his artwork behind. She said the property was "covered in graffiti" and she "threw things in the bin".

Gunningham was born in 1973 and was a pupil at Bristol Cathedral School. He grew up in the Clifton area of the city and has an older sister, Sarah. His dad Peter Gordon Gunningham was a retired contracts manager in the Whitehall area. Mum Pamela Ann Dawkin-Jones was a company director's secretary.

Ryan Merrifield