Britain's biggest graffiti vandal '10 Foot' is UNMASKED trends now
Britain's most prolific graffiti artist, known as 10 Foot, is today revealed as the middle-class son of a respected NHS doctor who enjoyed an idyllic childhood in the countryside.
Sam Moore is unmasked by MailOnline as the writer behind the hundreds of 10 Foot tags spray painted on bridges, walls and buildings in London - and causing an estimated £1million worth of damage across the UK.
10 Foot recently boasted that his vandalism had gone global with his graffiti tags all over the world as he had been approached by fashion brands, music labels and TV showrunners with offers to collaborate and earn a fortune in sponsorship deals.
Reeling off the places around the globe where his 10 Foot tag can be seen, Moore says they are in Paris, Berlin, New York, Philadelphia, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Oslo and Copenhagen to name just a few.
Using an anarchist's book shop in Kennington, south-east London, as a drop-off point for friends to contact him, Moore has been keen to play up his street credentials.
MailOnline has revealed the identity of the prolific graffiti artist '10 Foot' as Sam Moore, from the Isle of Wight, who is believed to be pictured her painting his tag in Buenos Aires, Argentina
In London you will see 10 Foot's tags this this scrawled across walls, bridges and buildings
A notorious graffiti artist, Moore has always kept his identity secret. This is the only photo that exists of him - from when he was jailed ten years ago after being caught spraying Hungerford Bridge with his '10 Foot' tag. He was jailed for causing £113,000 worth of damage
However, speak to Moore's friends and family in the genteel surroundings of Sandown on the Isle of Wight, in Hampshire, and they paint a rather different picture.
One of two siblings, Moore's childhood was the very definition of middle-class respectability as he and his brother grew up in a beautiful, detached house worth £750,000 on a farm with their mother Judith Moore and stepfather David McMullen, both retired family doctors.
Neighbours recall Moore as a 'chatty, pleasant' child who attended the nearby Sandown High School.
'Most people knew his mother Judith as she was also their GP,' remembers a family friend. 'She was a pillar of the community and well known on the island, so people would look up to her.
10 Foot's father Michael Wilks (pictured) lives on the Isle of Wight and says he has no opinion of Moore's 'art'
'This is a small place with a sense of community, and you get to know everyone. The boys were not really in any trouble round here, although I know from Judith that Sam did go off the rails later when he moved to London got into serious trouble.'
Judith and Moore's father David Wilks, a radiographer, were never married and separated in the early 90s when their son was six or seven and his younger was still a toddler.
Judith would later move in with David and his son and two daughters.
Although Moore, 36, has an Instagram fan page dedicated to his work with photos of over 400 locations tagged by 10 Foot and he has given anonymous interviews before, this is the first time his identity has been confirmed.
His father Michael admitted that his son is 10 Foot - but refused to be drawn on his 'art'.
'I have no big opinion on what he does,' Mr Wilks told MailOnline, adding, 'He does what he does.'
Neighbours said that there was no indication of the trouble that would follow for Moore.
His graffiti began when he left the Isle of Wight for London aged 20.
One friend said he 'fell in with the wrong crowd' and hung out with other graffers known as the Diabolical Dubstars, or DDS – and artists with the tags Tox, Save and CK.
Despite cultivating a 'street' profile by jetting around the word to spray his 10 Foot tag and getting a series of sponsorship offers, Moore actually hails from the more genteel surrounds on the Isle of White. This is the detached farmhouse where him and his brother grew up
Moore and his younger brother were raised by their mother and stepfather, who are both doctors at the family home set in the sprawling countryside in Adgestone on the Isle of Wight
Moore's family home in Sandown which is worth £750,000 and where chickens and a few sheep are kept is close to the beach and is popular with
