A journalist named Craig Williams reckons that he’s figured out one of the great cultural mysteries of our time – who the hell is Banksy?

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Following a five-month investigation, he claims that the elusive street artist actually consists of a group of people, one of these being the founding member of trip hop group Massive Attack, Robert Del Jaja. Interesting.

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The conclusion came after Williams discovered that there had been at least six occasions where Banksy’s work had popped up around the world shortly before the group appeared for gigs in the same city. He added:

But what if Banksy isn’t the one person everyone thinks he is.

What if – akin to the Shakespeare conspiracy theories, Banksy is a group of people who have been stencilling different locations both at home and abroad? Such a rich body of work done over a decade, across the globe, may allow for the suggestion.

And if that wasn’t convincing enough, here’s some more evidence:

Six Banksy murals were reported in San Francisco on May 1, 2010 after Massive Attack performed a two night stint in the city on April 25 and 27.

Massive Attack played Toronto a week later before more new Banksy murals were reported there.

Later on that tour Massive Attack headed to Boston’s Chinatown a day after a Banksy appeared there.

Similar patterns are reported in 2006 when Massive Attack embarked on a US tour, which included a slot at the Hollywood Bowl, LA, a week before Banksy’s ‘Barely Legal’ exhibition in the city.

In 2008 Banksy produced 14 stencils across New Orleans marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Del Naja co-wrote the soundtrack to the New Orleans-themed documentary ‘Trouble the Water’ during the same time frame.

Also in April 2003 Banksy’s work appears in Melbourne, the same city Massive Attack had played the month before.

Del Naja also appeared in Banksy’s ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’ speaking about the pair’s friendship from his early days in the city.

The graffiti artist provides the foreword to book 3D and the ‘Art of Massive Attack’, which was released last year.

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Hmm. Very interesting and it is a certain possibility. However, I always take these theories with a pinch of salt, simply because so many people have claimed to figure out the mystery before. Plus, I think it’s great that we have to keep on guessing – if we found out who he was it would ruin the illusion of Banksy.

To read about the time a builder accidentally destroyed one of Banksy’s paintings, worth £1 million, click HERE.