Large sections of central Cardiff were shut down yesterday to accommodate a lavish funeral procession for a drag queen who was also a convicted child sex offender.
Cardiff City Council and South Wales Police shut down three busy roads in the city center for over one hour on Thursday to make room for a horse-drawn glass-walled carriage and mourners. Taxis, buses, and delivery vehicles were impacted, with those not involved in the cortege being told to vacate the area by 11:20 a.m and steer clear until 1 p.m local time.
The funeral belonged to Darren Moore, a local drag queen who had been found dead on the evening of Sunday, January 22, outside of a Cardiff bar. When found, Moore was wearing his full drag costume.
Police launched an investigation into Moore’s death, and subsequently arrested a 50-year-old man on charges of manslaughter. Following the murder, police had cautioned people against speculation, and have stated that there is no “obvious cause of death” that has yet been revealed or confirmed.
Moore had previously been convicted of four counts of rape on a boy under the age of 14 in 1999, according to past news coverage by the Sun.
As previously revealed by Reduxx, Moore was once known as Darren Sewell, and had spent 3 years in a Young Offenders’ Institution following his conviction. As a condition of his sentence, Moore was also handed a ban on having contact with children.
But in 2011, Moore was caught working with youth as a gymnastics and dance instructor and was convicted of breaching the lifetime order. He was sentenced to a three-year sex offender’s treatment program, a 24-month supervision order, 300 hours of community service, and a six-month curfew with an electronic tag.
Despite Moore’s conviction, he went on to become a popular drag queen in Cardiff, performing under the names Crystal Couture, CC Quinn and Dolly.
In 2018, Moore was booked to represent British Airways at a Pride Festival in Brighton. The company later had to distance themselves from him after his past conviction came to light, and clarified that part of the reason why they did not know was because of his name change. Two years later, Moore exhibited his hand-made drag jewelry at RuPaul’s Dragcon in London.
Moore was close friends with Sab Samuel, the founder and CEO Drag Queen Story Hour UK. Samuel performs under the drag name Aida H. Dee, and has been seen wearing Moore’s custom drag jewelry at events with children.
In January, following the announcement of Moore’s death, Samuel made multiple posts on his Facebook page mourning the loss of Moore.
Calling Moore an “an exuberant human being, taken from the world too early,” Samuel assisted in the fundraising efforts for Moore’s funeral by promoting the GoFundMe page made in his honor.
According to the GoFundMe page that had been promoted by Samuel, over £6,800 (approx. $8,200 USD) was raised to give Moore “the biggest send off,” more than doubling its initial goal.
The GoFundMe also suggested some of the money would be going to support Moore’s husband, who is also named Darren.
Moore’s husband has vocally defended him in light of the revelations of his history of sexual abuse. On January 24, Moore’s husband took to Facebook live to issue a 7-minute statement in which he targeted “media outlets” who mentioned Moore’s past.
“If any of you have a bad word to say against my husband, then just go and crawl under the fucking stone you came from. Darren was the most kind-hearted person you could ever fucking meet. He didn’t have a bad bone in his body,” Moore’s husband said during the emotional livestream.
Very few media outlets have mentioned Moore’s history, with most simply referring to him as a “well-known drag artist.” The Daily Mail was one of the few exceptions after it identified Moore as having been a convicted child sex offender following the announcement of his sudden and unexplained death.
In their coverage of Moore’s funeral procession, Wales Online failed to mention his criminal history, and instead focused on the traffic considerations, and the flowers being set at his casket’s glass-walled carriage by mourners.
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