UPDATE: According to Death & Taxes, the PRlog story (which has either been removed, or the site is down) seems to stem from this BBC article detailing the February 8th arrest of a man believed to be Banksy.
Anonymous tweeted the story:
London Police say #Banksy’s real name is Paul William Horner, a 39-year old male born in Bristol, England. | prlog.org/12085513-banks…
— Anonymous Operations (@Anon_Central) February 22, 2013
However, it seems to be nothing more than an epic troll.
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According to PRLOG, The England-based graffiti artist who goes by the pseudonymous 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 stated, “We had a 24-hour Anti-Graffiti Task Force monitoring different groups known to have associated with Banksy. We received word that around 2 a.m. 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, five en total. These individuals all had ID on them except for one, and that is the one we believed to be Banksy.
“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.”
Horner is currently being held without bail on charges of vandalism, conspiracy, racketeering and counterfeiting. Four other individuals whose names are being withheld are also in police custody.