When he first began redecorating walls and buildings in his native city of Bristol in the early 1990s, the graffiti artist known as Banksy was frequently accused of vandalising private property.

A decade and a half later, having won fame and a considerable fortune, he faces a different charge.

The graffiti artist – who fiercely defends his anonymity – now stands accused of causing gentrification. His street art is being held responsible for proposed regeneration projects; his aerosol paintings are blamed for raising house prices in formerly deprived neighbourhoods.

These charges were laid against Banksy this week by a shadowy group calling themselves Appropriate Media.

A new mural by artist Nick Walker has appeared on the outside wall of the Highbury Vaults pub in Bristol.

The tagged stencilled work shows Rapunzel with her hair let down like a rope to allow a hooded youth to climb up to her window.

In the youth’s hand is a can of spray paint which he has used to write a heart-shaped V to spell “vandalism”.

Last night the future of the notoriously secretive spray painter and the multimillion-pound industry he has created were in doubt after a newspaper claimed to have unmasked him. Banksy, it suggested, is the pseudonym of Robin Gunningham, 34, a former public schoolboy from Bristol.

The artist’s representatives refused to confirm or deny the report, which was based on interviews with dozens of friends, former colleagues, flatmates, enemies and family members over the course of a year.

Banksy pulled off an audacious stunt to produce what is believed to be his biggest work yet in central London.

The secretive graffiti artist managed to erect three storeys of scaffolding behind a security fence despite being watched by a CCTV camera.

Then, during darkness and hidden behind a sheet of polythene, he painted this comment on ‘Big Brother’ society.