Tale of two graffiti artists - While Bansky basks in fame, tagger Daniel 'Tox' Halpin heads to prison

Published: 16 June 2011
by RICHARD OSLEY and PAVAN AMARA

NAMES changed to protect identities, this is the story of a man named Tox, who is facing a prison sentence for drawing on walls, and a man named Banksy, who has made a mint and enjoyed unprecedented adulation for, um, drawing on walls.

In fact, Banksy is now so renowned that his artwork of a rat in Clipstone Street, Fitzrovia, may have escaped the dreaded prospect of being whitewashed this week by gaining the protection of a Perspex screen.

But we’ll come to that later.

Tox, in contrast to his undoubtedly richer contemporary, was accused in a courtroom last week of lacking the artistic craft enjoyed by the evergreen Banksy.

To make up for this deficiency, it was claimed, he opted for quantity not quality, embarking on a three-year paint project. 

He was accused of spraying the three letters that spell out TOX and numerals to mark the year of production on railway sidings across London and the South-east. 

The tag could often be seen on the highest buildings – Kentish Town Road was once blanketed – and behind  rows of the sharpest barbed wire.

In exasperation at this unrivalled work ethic, one fatigued London Underground worker, with a scrubber and a bucket of soapy water, once told a television documentary: “I don't know where you can’t see a Tox tag.”

Niche magazines, impressed by Tox’s apparent unmatched commitment, crowned him the King of the Taggers, and there is a fan page on Facebook. 

Yet, Tox claimed in court that damage to trains and buildings was often caused by imitators after his retirement from the moonlit world of graffiti runs five years ago. His genuine pieces could make him £4,500 an hour, due to his status as “urban icon”, he said.

But the argument didn’t (white)wash with jurors, who saw a vandal rather than an artist. 

On Thursday, Tox, his name called out at Blackfriars Crown Court as Daniel Halpin, 26, from the Maiden Lane estate in Camden Town, was found guilty of criminal damage and warned that he is likely to spend time in prison. 

Prosecutor Hugo Lodge told the hearing: “He is no Banksy. He doesn’t have the artistic skills, so he has to get his tag up as much as possible.”

Brought to court after being arrested in British Transport’s Operation Misfit, Tox had already been hit with an Asbo and community penalties.

“Every time he talks about being Tox, his face lights up. He can’t help but smile,” Mr Lodge told the court. “He hasn’t retired. He has turned professional. To maintain this, he has to keep getting his tag up. It’s everywhere, and it’s him.”

A British Transport Police spokesman said afterwards: “Some people consider graffiti to be art but in reality it is nothing more than selfish vandalism that not only scars the railway environment but contributes to fear of crime and costs operators thousands of pounds in equipment downtime, as well as cleaning.”

By contrast, the work of that other scrawler on walls, Banksy, is not always considered “selfish vandalism” by authorities. 

There’s been no Asbo, no lengthy police investigations.

The artist, loved for his wry observations on public life and mocking of hypocritical world leaders and big business, drew a rat on the side of Camden Town Hall. 

Rather than scrub it off, star-struck council officials protected it with a Perspex screen and even enquired about how they might insure the gift. 

Ironically, the building might actually be demolished due to a council property deal in the coming months and years.

Banksy, or a very good impersonator, struck most recently in the early hours of Easter Monday on a wall in Clipstone Street. 

Just over the borough boundary in Fitzrovia, Westminster City Council’s no-nonsense approach to graffiti led to claims it would be whitewashed. 

A mystery handyman – or at least the person who commissioned him – might have heard that public threat and has since clipped another Perspex screen to it.

When the New Journal spoke to the man who fitted that protection, he created more intrigue by saying that someone high-profile had paid him to carry out the work.

“He’s a well-known guy, that’s all I’ll say, but he’s very discreet about his causes,” the handyman said. 

“It’s not the best time for him to publicly come forward, because he’s got a public image to keep. He’s an elderly gentleman, he likes rock ’n’ roll a lot,  he’s definitely not your average guy.

“You’d probably know his face if he walked in here now, and the cost of putting the Perspex on would certainly be no drain to his bank balance. His intentions were to completely preserve the Banksy. He knows he couldn’t rely on the council to keep it.”

Alastair Gilchrist, Westminster Council’s strategic director of resources, later said: “The Perspex covering has been put up by a member of the public, and, seeing that is not causing a problem, it will remain until a final decision has been made on what to do with the work.”

Tox will be sentenced on July 1. Banksy’s film Exit Through The Gift Shop is available on DVD.