An inquest into the death of a drag queen whose body was found under a pile of cardboard boxes was shown footage of the last moments of their life.
Darren Meah-Moore, 39, a drag queen who had featured on RuPaul's Drag Race and registered sex offender, was found dead in a lane in the centre of Cardiff. Meah-Moore - who performed under the names Crystal Couture and CC Quinn - had last been seen decked out in full drag, with a full face of makeup and blonde wig, leaving the Pulse nightclub in the heart of the Welsh city.
An inquest has heard the married drag queen had sexual encounters with other men that night before meeting a man with a dog in the early hours of the morning in the street - and proceeded to have sex with both.
CCTV from the night in question showed Meah-Moore engaging with two men on the night and reappearing on camera multiple times during the encounters. He fails to appear after a third encounter with a man, who later told the court his dog was involved in a sexual encounter with the drag queen.
The man, whose identity has been kept under wraps by court reporting restrictions, said he went to a secluded car park with Meah-Moore and began to have sexual activity with him.
During their encounter in January 2023, he added, he said he had tried to "shoo" the animal away but claimed Meah-Moore told him not to. He said: "Who would think somebody wants to have sex with a dog but apparently he did. I was told to leave him be."
"Because it was consensual and desired I let him do what he was asked to do. I had never seen something like that before. I could have stopped it and I should have stopped it but I didn't."
The owner said he "lost interest" when Meah-Moore continued to allow the dog to have sex with him. After the encounter, he said Meah-Moore fell asleep and could not be roused. The inquest was told tests found "human and non-human" semen inside Meah-Moore's body and DNA matched the man's dog. The hearing was told pathologists ultimately found the death was not "traumatic".
Tests have since been carried out to see if Meah-Moore was allergic to
dogs, with Coroner David Regan saying a pathologist had theorised the drag queen's sudden death may have arisen "from the dog semen".
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"Darren's husband and family want to thank everyone for their support but now need time to grieve and respectfully request privacy at this time." Meah-Moore was jailed in March 1999 after being convicted of four counts of rape of a boy under 16. In 2011, he was also sentenced to a three-year community order and given 300 hours of unpaid work for breaching of a sex offender's order.
