ALICE Kavanagh’s double page spread ‘Food and drink at York cinema is just the ticket!’ had the spin-off benefit of making me focus on the building itself in all its Art Deco style magnificence.

Could the building [the Everyman cinema in the former Odeon in Blossom Street] be termed York’s second cathedral – the ‘Celluloid Cathedral’?

Several fine, disparate buildings vie for the title ‘York’s second cathedral’.

The Minster is in pole position in the league table of magnificence, of course, but York Railway Station is often cited as second-placed, with very good reason.

Another contender is the rather ‘tucked-away’ Leetham’s Mill by the Foss between Stonebow and Fossgate, once a hive of industry but now perhaps more of a hive.

Then more up to date, a possible claimant to the title, is the Aviva building, Tanner’s Moat by Lendal Bridge.

Really? Yes, really! However, some may contend it’s reminiscent of a secret government intelligence centre.

‘Aviva Castle’ is an impressive possibility for the ‘York’s second cathedral’ accolade.

My own vote goes to the station for ‘second prize’ but readers may have other candidates in mind.

It would be interesting to hear about them.

Derek Reed,

Middlethorpe Drive,

York

What do you think?

Feel strongly about an issue? Write us a letter. Please write no more than 250 words and you must provide your full name, address and mobile number. Send your views by email to: letters@thepress.co.uk

Residents could help keep streets tidy

S ROBINSON in a letter to The Press comment’s on the state of the street’s after the refuse collectors have done their work, with items of rubbish blowing like tumbleweed down our streets.

Easily remedied by a few socially minded individuals who are proud of their streets and town and picking up rubbish.

The thing that I find more annoying is how the bins/boxes are abandoned on the walkways, I under understand that the refuse collectors are too busy to place them safely, but the thing that gets my goat is the able-bodied people who rather than move the obstructions to one side simply avoid them.

Don’t they have a thought regarding, people with wheelchairs, pushchairs, mobility scooters and people with limited visibility.

Have people become so self-centred that they don’t consider others.

What a selfish society we are becoming.

D M Deamer,

Penleys Grove Street,

Monkgate,

York

—

Kelly Somers: What’s been the toughest point in your career?

Granit Xhaka: I have two tough moments. The first one was when I moved for the first time away from my family at nearly 19 to Germany. It was very difficult for me. Everyone knows how close I am to my family and to be away from them was hard. I didn’t get the minutes I wanted [on the pitch] and I wanted to leave in January after six months, but I had my dad behind me. He said: ‘If you walk now, you will always walk away, so head down and just work.’ I did, and everything changed.

The second part is not a big secret. It was 2019 when I had this… I call it a misunderstanding… with the fans of Arsenal. Two moments where I think that I became stronger and better because it’s part of a process. It’s part of writing the whole history. On one side, very bad. On one side, I was lucky to have it.

Kelly: Now you’re back in the Premier League, have you had an opportunity to reflect on your whole period at Arsenal? Because you had some incredible highs as well as some really difficult moments…

Granit: In general, I think people just think about this moment in 2019. But I came in 2016, so to be part of a football club for seven years makes me proud… it’s not easy to be on this level for seven years. And, of course, when I left Arsenal it was a hard decision for myself and for my family because we were happy there. But I got another offer on the table where I was thinking more far [ahead] than in the moment. To be honest, I didn’t expect to be back in the Premier League after two years again. This was not the plan for myself, or for our family.

Kelly: So you never wanted to come back?

Granit: It’s not that I didn’t want to, but it wasn’t planned. When I moved from Arsenal, I signed a five-year contract at Leverkusen. So everything was planned around what happens after five years. But I always say in football, you never know where you are tomorrow.

Kelly: Why did you come back then?

Granit: Even the people closest to me were saying: ‘Why are you going back to the Premier League to join Sunderland?’ I came back because I love the challenge and I had the feeling I need a new challenge. After two years in Germany, where in the first year we won nearly everything… unbeaten in the Bundesliga, won the cup, lost the final of Europa League, which was very painful. I just had the feeling with the owner when I spoke with them – with the club, with the coach – this is the right club for me, because the people are very humble. It’s a small city like where I grew up. I just wanted to come back in a reality which I believe is the right direction for myself, for my family. I’m just happy that everything at the moment is going how I wanted it to.

Kelly: You must have expected it to go well because otherwise you wouldn’t have come here. But has it exceeded your expectations?

Granit: The first thing I said to the club was: ‘I’m not coming here to play in the Premier League for one year and to go down, because I’m leaving a Champions League club. I’m coming here to to push this project.’

Kelly: I find it fascinating, because you must have had other offers to come back to the Premier League…

Granit: It was a busy summer to be honest! I’m 33, I spoke with my brother and I said: ‘I never have had so many offers!’ The summer was very busy because every day someone else came. But I decided for myself – after 20 minutes on the call with the owner – I wanted to go to Sunderland. I was so sure.

John Wilson murdered his ex-girlfriend, 17-year-old Michelle Stewart, in 2008, and has been recalled to prison after being released on parole.

The family of a murdered teenager have said they were “right all along” after her killer was put back behind bars a year after he was paroled.

John Wilson, now 37, was given a life sentence after he ambushed his ex-girlfriend, 17-year-old Michelle Stewart, and stabbed her to death in Drongan in 2008.

Wilson was released in January 2025 after 16 years in prison, despite warnings from Michelle’s family that he would reoffend.

But he was locked up again last month for breaching his licence conditions.

In a letter to Michelle’s sister Lisa Stewart, the Scottish Prison Service confirmed that Wilson’s “licence has been revoked and the offender has been returned to custody”.

Lisa, 47, told the Daily Record the news was “music to her ears”.

She said: “When I heard, my overriding thought was that we had been right all along.

“He was never going to abide by any licence conditions that were imposed on him.

“We knew that, eventually, he would breach his licence conditions. It was just a matter of when.

“When he was first released, I said I’d give it a year before he did something. He’s made it just over a year.

“Any breach of his licence conditions – regardless of how small it may be – clearly shows that he is not reformed in any way and that he should not be released.

“To be honest, it is music to my ears that he has been recalled and that he is off the streets.”

Michelle was just minutes away from her home in Drongan when Wilson, who was 20 at the time, carried out his brutal attack.

He had been stalking the schoolgirl since their break-up and stabbed her 10 times with a 10-inch blade in front of her friends.

Michelle’s brother Kenny Jnr, a nurse, performed CPR on his sister at the scene in a desperate attempt to save her.

Wilson went on the run and was caught hours later. He pleaded guilty to the murder in March 2009 and was sentenced to serve 12 years minimum jail time, discounted from 16 years due to his guilty plea.

Minutes from one of Wilson’s parole hearings showed the murderer had not undertaken any domestic violence work in the first 14 years he spent behind bars.

The revelation left Michelle’s heartbroken loved ones “speechless”.

Lisa, who has fought tirelessly to keep her sister’s killer locked up, said: “They said he’d had no rehabilitation work in 14 years.

“He hadn’t shown any remorse for what he did to Michelle. That’s not somebody who is rehabilitated, that’s not somebody who would be safe to be released back into the community.

“I thought, what if he started a new relationship? What if they have an argument or she rejects him or does something he doesn’t like?”

Wilson now faces a fresh parole hearing.

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Michelle continued: “Basically, it will go to a hearing now and the hearing will decide whether he is released or whether he is put back into the prison system.

“We are hoping he stays behind bars.”

Since 2019, the Stewart family have campaigned to see Michelle’s Law introduced, which would see changes to the justice system, including the setting up of ‘exclusion zones’ upon an offender’s release.

This was prompted by Wilson being spotted in and around Ayr numerous times while on supervised leave since 2018.

Speaking of her anguish at the sightings, Lisa previously said: “For John Wilson to be back in the local community is not only a kick in the face to us, but it speaks volumes about the current status of victims in the eyes of the SNP government.”

In a letter to first minister Humza Yousaf at the time, Lisa wrote: “On a daily basis Mr Yousaf, I have flashbacks of Michelle lying on the pavement, lifeless, a large gaping stab wound visible on her chest, blood pouring from her stab wounds inflicted on her and her blue eyes staring straight ahead lifeless.

“You have previously stated that is a matter for the local authority, however they are required to work within the legislation set by the Scottish Government.

“You, as well as Parole Scotland, do have the power to make that decision to relocate him.

“John Wilson has the rest of his life ahead of him – to forget what he done to Michelle.

“It is too much to ask that he be relocated outwith any proximity of Ayrshire?”

It is not currently known what conditions Wilson breached to trigger his recall to prison. However, it is understood he will remain behind bars for the next six to eight weeks until a hearing takes place.

A spokesperson for the Parole Board for Scotland said: “The Parole Board does not comment on individual cases.”

Yet Cash defies the diaristic lit-girl trope with her delightfully wacky debut novel, Lost Lambs. Everything in the small-town world of the novel is made up, from the names of prescription drugs which various characters ingest to the town’s church, Our Lady of Suffering, which is suffering from a gnat infestation. In a bit of typographical experimentation, the text is blighted by gnats, too — exterminate is written as “extermignate”; natural as “gnatural”.

“Small gestures are the best,” Anna from the South East says. She remembers receiving a bicycle bell for safer cycling as a student in Oxford: “He attached it in the early hours as a surprise.”

The most interesting gift that reader Pip, from the South East, has given were bright red socks. “My other half modelled them for me, but nothing else.”

What started out as an affordable gift is now becoming a serious commitment for Londoner Marie’s husband: “He always gives me roses, one more for every year. We have been married 50 years this year.”

Fiona, from the South West, also has a rose-giving tradition with her husband, whom she otherwise describes as “romantic as a slug”. The couple lived in Hong Kong for many years, where “it is customary to send eleven red roses because ‘you are the 12th and treasured one’. That was quite sweet,” she recalls.

“Years later, he realised he’d forgotten to buy me a Valentine card so set about designing and printing one. I was presented with a sheet of white paper with a black heart in the middle.

“Ever the engineer, he had also drawn an arrow pointing to the heart and written the word ‘RED’. It still makes me laugh today.”

Best: Loving memories

The best gifts sometimes cost nothing at all – but mean the world to these readers.

Gary Horn also breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by deleting the internet history from his Google browser to try to conceal his use of those sites.

The 40-year-old defendant, of Ruskin Crescent, Thornley, appeared at Durham Crown Court for sentence after previously admitting six breaches of the SHPO.

Caiomhe Bicknell, prosecuting, said the defendant received a suspended prison sentence in May 2020 for attempted sexual communication with a child.

But he was made subject of the ten-year SHPO, which he breached the following year, for which he was fined.

Sex offender Gary Horn escaped an immediate prison sentence despite a second breach of a court order (Image: Child Online Safety Team (COST))

Remaining subject of the SHPO, police monitoring officers discovered he had accessed various chat room sites, using alias names which were variations of his own name, in November last year.

These sites included 50Flirty.com, Granny Space, Granny Site and Xtremechat.

The court heard he failed to notify his offender risk manager that he had accessed those sites, and then wiped his browsing history, all in breach of the SHPO.

Chris Morrison, for Horn, said the defendant has lived a “stable life” with his partner of several years.

But he said at the time of the offences he was, “in a difficult place” with money and work pressures, and sought out the chat sites, “as an escape from the stresses he was going through”.

Gary Horn pictured leaving court after receiving a suspended prison sentence (Image: Child Online Safety Team (COST))

Mr Morrison said the defendant remains in work, as a forklift driver for a Newton Aycliffe car parts manufacturer.

He also acts as the main support for his partner, who has been in ill-health and underwent surgery last week.

Mr Morrison added that the defendant has suffered previously with his own mental health.

He said Horn spent time in a mental health facility for severe depression and has also, “had a struggle with the bottle”, which he has found hard to resist.

Sex offender Gary Horn pictured after receiving a suspended prison sentence at Durham Crown Court (Image: Child Online Safety Team (COST))

Relating to the content of the material he accessed online, Mr Morrison said they were not sites on which he was likely to encounter anyone of a young age.

He added that the defendant has, “expressed no desire” to go on the internet until the expiry of the SHPO.

Judge Richard Clews told Horn: “Court orders are in place to be obeyed.

“Offenders can’t be given the impression that they can flout orders with impunity.

“You accessed five different chat rooms and deleted your browsing history.

“I accept they were adult chat rooms with a low degree of likelihood of you seeking communication with a child.

“Nevertheless, they were deliberate breaches of the order to which you knew you were subject.

“Happily, little harm seems to have been caused, but the risks are plain for everyone to see.”

Judge Clews said they merited 12 months’ imprisonment, but he had to decide whether to make that immediate or suspend the sentence.

“You are described as a high risk in a number of respects, but you have a police officer designated to supervise you who will no doubt keep a keen eye on your activity.”

The judge said he had to consider that the defendant is working, “in a decent job”, and immediate prison would impact on his partner, given her health issues.

He, therefore, suspended sentence for two years and ordered the defendant to attend 25 rehabilitation activity sessions with the Probation Service and carry out 75 hours’ unpaid work.

Read next … more court stories from The Northern Echo, by clicking here

Thornley sex offender risked jail by joining ‘Granny Space’ chat

Police went to sex offender’s Newton Aycliffe over use of aliases

Ferryhill sex offender deleted apps from phone in ‘panic’

The judge warned the defendant there are still more than five years to run on the SHPO.

He said if there were any further breaches of the order or more offending in general, “the overwhelming likelihood” would be that he would have to serve the sentence behind bars.

On leaving court with his partner, Horn was confronted by paedophile hunting group members who told him he had, “dodged a bullet for the third time.”

It’s been a week since “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie ‘s mother disappeared from her home in Arizona in what authorities say was a kidnapping.

Investigators have been examining ransom notes and looking for evidence but have not named a suspect. On Friday, officers returned to 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie ‘s home near Tucson and to the surrounding neighborhood to continue their search.

Here’s what to know about the case:

The disappearance

Family members told officials they last saw Guthrie at 9:48 p.m. on Jan. 31 when they dropped her off at home after they ate dinner and played games together. The next day, family learned she didn’t attend church. They reported her missing after they went to check on her.

Guthrie has a pacemaker and needs daily medication. Her family and authorities are worried her health could be deteriorating by the day.

Collecting evidence

Authorities think Guthrie was taken against her will from her home in an upscale neighborhood that sits on hilly, desert terrain. DNA tests showed blood on Guthrie’s front porch matched hers, the county sheriff has said.

Investigators found her doorbell camera was disconnected early Sunday and that software data recorded movement at the home minutes later. But investigators haven’t been able to recover the footage because Guthrie didn’t have an active subscription to the service.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told The Associated Press in an interview that investigators have not given up on trying to access those images.

“I wish technology was as easy as we believe it is, that here’s a picture, here’s your bad guy. But it’s not,” Nanos told the AP on Friday. “There are pieces of information that come to us from these tech groups that say ‘This is what we have and we can’t get anymore.’”

The president of the Catalina Foothills Association, a neighborhood group, thanked residents in a letter for being willing to speak with law enforcement, share camera images and allow their properties to be searched.

Ransom notes

At least three media organizations reported receiving purported ransom notes, which they handed over to investigators. Authorities made an arrest after one ransom note turned out to be fake, the sheriff said.

It’s unclear if all of the notes were identical. Heith Janke, the FBI chief in Phoenix, said details included a demand for money with a Thursday evening deadline and a second deadline for Monday if the first one wasn’t met. At least one note mentioned a floodlight at Guthrie’s home and an Apple watch, Janke said.

Investigators said they are taking the notes seriously.

On Friday, KOLD-TV in Tucson said it received a new message, via email, tied to the Guthrie case. The station said it couldn’t disclose its contents. The FBI said it was aware of a new message and was reviewing its authenticity.

Family appeals

Concern about Guthrie’s condition is growing because authorities say she needs daily medicine that’s vital to her health. She has a pacemaker, high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.

Guthrie’s children recorded two separate video messages to their mother’s abductor and posted them publicly on social media.

Savannah Guthrie filmed a sometimes emotional message on Wednesday asking the kidnapper for proof their mother was alive. She noted that technology today allows for the easy manipulation of voices and images and the family needed to know “without a doubt” that she is alive and in the abductor’s hands.

Police have not said that they have received any deepfake images of Nancy Guthrie.

Savannah Guthrie described her mother as a “kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light” and said she was funny, spunky and clever.

“Talk to her and you’ll see,” she said.

She spoke some words directly to her mom, saying she and her siblings wouldn’t rest until they’re all together again.

Trump’s involvement

The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information about Guthrie’s whereabouts.

The White House said President Donald Trump called and spoke with Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday. He posted on social media that he was directing federal authorities to help where they can.

On Friday night, he told reporters flying with him to his Florida estate on Air Force One that the investigation was going “very well” and investigators had some strong clues.

Famous kidnappings

The kidnapping is the latest abduction to attract the American public’s attention.

Other notorious kidnappings in U.S. history have included the son of singer Frank Sinatra, the granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and the 9-year-old girl for whom the AMBER Alert was named.

Craig Turner, 24, of Siddington Walk in Middlesbrough, was jailed for three years for his part in a group facilitating the supply of cocaine in the East Middlesbrough area using a drugs line identified under Operation Blackberry.

The group he was part of were observed dealing cocaine on ten occasions in February and March last year.

Craig Turner Jnr (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

Stephen Garbutt, 42, of Lighthouse View in Seaham, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine and was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 12 months. He must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and 25 days rehabilitation.

Forty-five-year-old Craig Turner, of The Wickets in Marton, Middlesbrough, was also found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine and was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for 12 months. He must carry out rehabilitation for nine months.

Craig Turner Snr (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

Luke Turner, 22, of Linnet Close in Guisborough, is due to be sentenced on Friday, March 6 after pleading guilty to supplying a controlled drug of class A in November 2025.

It is the second criminal group identified by Cleveland Police and the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU).

Luke Turner (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

Officers were working in the Project Orme area of east Middlesbrough.

During the three-month investigation, officers uncovered that a drugs line had been called 10,000 times in two months.

The line was being monitored by officers from Cleveland Police’s dedicated drugs unit with assistance from Middlesbrough’s community action team and NEROCU.

Stephen Garbutt (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

In November 2025, Curtis Cremin, 19, of Hubbard Walk in Middlesbrough, was jailed for four-and-a-half years after also supplying class A drugs through a drugs line in the east Middlesbrough area.

The 19-year-old was grooming and exploiting young teenage boys by recruiting them to hand over drugs to customers.

Curtis Cremin (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

Louie Leadbitter, 18, of Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough, was also sentenced to three years in prison.

Another teenager, Laiton Hopkins, 19 of Cotswold Avenue in Middlesbrough, was found guilty of supplying cocaine and was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years.

Cleveland Police said their criminality was conducted in broad daylight, mostly in playparks and outside schools.

Louie Leadbitter (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

They would also be balaclava-clad and riding electric and off-road bikes to try and conceal their identity.

Inspector Phil Morris, from Cleveland Police’s dedicated drugs unit, said: “Having now uncovered two separate criminal groups who were openly supplying cocaine and other drugs, we are pleased that we can now help safeguard people, particularly those exploited by criminal gangs, and stop these drugs getting out onto the streets of Middlesbrough.

Laiton Hopkins (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

“It also shows that in the area of east Middlesbrough we are working hard with partner agencies to combat organised crime and revitalise the area for residents, businesses and everyone affected there under Project Orme.”

Cleveland Police has also released a list of signs to look out for if you believe your child is being exploited, manipulated or forced to carry out criminal activity:

• They have more money and new expensive clothes or accessories.
• They have formed new relationships with older people or are hanging around in groups.
• They carry weapons and own multiple mobile phones.
• They are regularly missing from home or school
• There is a change in their emotional wellbeing or behaviour

With the latest Nintendo Direct proving a disappointment, a reader argues that Nintendo’s contrary nature is working against it with the Switch 2.

We’ve had three Nintendo Directs so far this year and they’ve all been boring and unnecessary. One for the new Super Mario Bros. movie, one on Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream, and a Partner Showcase. The first two were what they were but the Partner Showcase could easily have just been part of a standard Nintendo Direct, because there were no big announcements and the mic drop moment was Bethesda – which I can’t imagine many people getting excited about.

Presumably Nintendo feel these Directs were worth it, or they wouldn’t have done them, but I can’t imagine what benefit they got out of them. By the end of last year people were already worried about the lack of big upcoming games and now they’re defintely looking for some reassurance of what’s coming up. They haven’t had that so far; if anything the Partner Showcase made things look even worse than ever, as it was missing several big games like Elden Ring.

All this has happened against a very confused backdrop as to how well the Switch 2 is doing, since it’s apparently both the fastest-selling console ever and a sales disappointment in the West. At the very least I think we can say the honeymoon period for the Switch 2 is over and I feel that if Nintendo does not turn things around soon then public opinion is going to turn against them.

We all know what Nintendo is like. They like to keep the cards close to their chest as long as possible and definitely don’t like to be predictable. That’s fine – I think we all just want Nintendo to do their thing, as weird as it sometimes seems – but at the moment it feels more like they’re being contrarian for the sake of it and I really don’t think they’re in a position to indulge their worst tendencies right now.

The problem is that both their best games – Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza – came out at launch and neither of them, I would say, are without their faults. They’re very good but they’re not top tier Nintendo. That’s fine in theory but only if you know what’s coming up, and can get excited about it, but I don’t think anyone bought a Switch 2 in order to play a new Mario Tennis or add some multiplayer modes to Super Mario Bros. Wonder. They were also probably hoping that Metroid Prime 4 would be worth the wait.

The Switch 2 will be a year old in a few months and we still have no idea about a new Super Mario (2D or 3D), a new Zelda (or remake), a new Splatoon (Splatoon Raiders seems to be a single-player spin-off), an Animal Crossing sequel (the Switch 2 Edition of New Horizons seems to rule that out for at least a year or two), Gen X of Pokémon, a Kirby platformer, Luigi’s Mansion 4, a new Paper Mario (they seemed to be building up to a new role-player with The Thousand-Year Door remake but so far, nothing), a new Pikmin, Xenoblade Chronicles, or any kind of fitness game like Ring Fit Adventure.

The only major game that’s properly been announced so far is a new Fire Emblem, which you would’ve thought should be a very low priority, given how relatively niche it is. Not to spoil anyone’s fun but I find it hard to imagine many people are going to rush out to buy a Switch 2 because a new Fire Emblem is coming to it.

I often wonder whether Nintendo’s Western divisions spend most of their days pleading with Japan to be less secretive but it’s worth pointing out that they’re being worse now than they were for the launch of the Switch 1. That had a tease for Super Mario Odyssey. It was only a few seconds, and they didn’t say what it was, but that’s all we need at this point.

Because we haven’t got that fans either have to blindly trust Nintendo knows what they’re doing or they begin to worry that they’ve lost the plot and most of the games are going to be years away. Most people will trust Nintendo in terms of game quality, but not in terms of business decisions, which they are definitely not infallible about.

I just think they’re playing all this wrong and if we don’t get a very good Nintendo Direct very soon then those underperforming Western sales figures are going to get even worse.

By reader Olliephant

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot.

Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email.

MORE: Nintendo should make a Super Smash Bros. animated series – Reader’s Feature

MORE: Retro gaming is the future of video games as far as I’m concerned – Reader’s Feature

MORE: I’ll never need a new console after the PS5 and that’s a problem for Sony – Reader’s Feature

A drag queen’s body was found under a pile of cardboard boxes in an alleyway in the centre of Cardiff – and an inquest has heard the performer died under troubling circumstances

Once a glitzy performer taking to the stage in a blonde wig and immaculate make-up, this drag queen’s final moments were world’s away from the spotlight.

Darren Meah-Moore, 39, was found dead in a lane in the centre of Cardiff. The married drag queen, who performed under the names Crystal Couture and CC Quinn, was last seen glammed up in full drag leaving Pulse nightclub in the heart of the city

Meah-Moore once lived the high life and even featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race, but an inquest has heard that beneath the alter-ego, there was a much darker world. The perfomer, who was a registered sex offender, had met a man with a dog in the early hours of the night, and proceeded to have sex with both.

READ MORE: Teen admits murdering own ‘lovely’ mum, 45, found with blunt force head injury

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CCTV footage shows that Meah-Moore had sexual encounters with two other men that night, reappearing on camera multiple times during the encounters. However the performer 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.

An inquest heard that the man, who remains anonymous for legal reasons, said he went to a secluded car park with Meah-Moore and began to have sexual activity with him.

“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 man said.

The dog owner said he “lost interest” when Meah-Moore continued to allow the pet to have sex with him. After the encounter, he said Meah-Moore fell asleep and could not be woken up.

The inquest was told tests found “human and non-human” semen inside his body and DNA matched the man’s dog. 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”.

He said: “The pathologist made a suggestion that there might be some pathological relation with sudden death potentially arising from the dog semen?” Detective Superintendent Paul Raikes replied: “I think it is accepted Darren did have a sensitivity to dogs but it wasn’t able to provide a cause of death and attribute it to that.”

The court heard the original medical cause of death was given as 1a: sudden death in a man with bronchial asthma who had consumed alcohol and in a temporal association with sexual activity including anal intercourse.

The dog’s owner was later arrested on suspicion of manslaughter but later released without charge. Meah-Moore was reported missing by his husband the following morning – and a worker at the club said she saw him enter a nearby car park. Nightclub manager Sean Rogers was told of his disappearance and went to check the car park and could see part of his dress from the previous night.

Mr Rogers said when he got out of his car he found Meah-Moore’s body covered with flattened out cardboard boxes which had “definitely been placed on top of him”. He said the boxes were “covering a large part of his body” and said he tried to rouse Meah-Moore. When he got no response, he phoned the emergency services.

He performed CPR until paramedics took over but Meah-Moore was pronounced dead at the scene. The inquest heard tributes from Meah-Moore’s father and husband who described him as “caring” and “right at the heart of Cardiff’s gay community”. He was also described as talented gymnast, who ran a jewellery company called Bling Bling Bling UK.

A tribute from Darren’s family said: “Darren Moore was a loving husband, son, brother, uncle and friend. He was always the life and soul where ever he went, he was our social butterfly. He made sure he had a lot of time for people, and never judged others.

“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.

The Pontypridd inquest, due to last four days, continues.