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Street artist Banksy put rumours of his arrest behind him by producing a new spray-painted mural – which was immediately vandalised.

His latest work cropped up in his home city of Bristol yesterday but was splattered with dark blue paint this morning.

The elusive paint wizard's handiwork is in the docks area of the city and parodies Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.

The stencil art cleverly incorporates an alarm box as the model's earring and is called 'Girl with a Pierced Eardrum'.

The artist's last work in the city was called Mobile Lovers.

It sparked a row with Bristol City Council claiming it owned the work as it was on their land.

Banksy settled the spat by writing to Broad Plain Boys' Club saying it was theirs.

The club sold it to a private collector for £403,000.

The internet was awash with rumours yesterday that Banksy had been arrested.

The talk was sparked by a hoax news story circulated on Twitter.

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