Banksy's name and identity remain unknown - it has been stated that the reason for this secrecy is that graffiti is a crime.[113]
A commonly cited 2008 Mail on Sunday investigation of several former schoolmates and associates stated that the artist is believed to be Robin Gunningham, a former pupil at the public Bristol Cathedral School.[114][115] This suggestion was corroborated in 2016 by a study of the locations in which Banksy's art has been found, which found that the incidence of Banksy's works correlated with the known movements of Gunningham.[116][117]
There has also been speculation that Banksy is a woman, or that Banksy is a team of seven artists.[118] In October 2014 an internet hoax circulated that Banksy had been arrested and their identity revealed.[119]
In August 2016, Scottish journalist Craig Williams published an investigative piece in which he connected the timing of Banksy's murals with the touring schedule of the trip hop band Massive Attack.[120] Williams put forward the suggestion that Banksy's work could be the work of a collective, and that Banksy themselves may be Massive Attack's frontman, Robert Del Naja.[121][122] Del Naja had been a graffiti artist during the 1980s prior to forming the band and had previously been identified as a personal friend of Banksy.[120]