As a drag performer, La Voie can do anything from comedy to singing and dancing – and apparently disguise jewel thieves.
La Voie, 45-year-old Englishman Chris Dennis's drag character, came in second place and became a fan favorite in the show's sixth season. RuPaul's Drag Race UK and is currently winning hearts on the BBC Dancing under strict arrivalBritish equivalent Dancing with the Stars.
But before becoming a TV star, Dennis worked as a make-up artist in London, where in 2009 he unwittingly played a role in one of the biggest robberies in British history.
“I did the makeup for two robbers during the biggest jewelery heist in the UK,” said Dennis, who first made the revelation in a 2021 episode of the series. Little did you know podcast.
This story surfaced last week after the article Daily mail.
On August 6, 2009, two men in suits with guns entered the Graff Diamonds flagship store in London's West End and stole rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches worth an estimated £40 million ($73 million at the time).
The men were disguised with prosthetics and makeup – which is where Dennis comes into the story.
“Nothing unusual”
Then 29-year-old Dennis worked as a freelance make-up artist at the Covent Garden-based Charles Fox Make-up Studio, a renowned supplier of film and theater productions.
“I was invited to do makeup for two men who wanted aging makeupDennis told podcast host David McGillivray. “They told me it was for a music video.”
He said there was “nothing unusual” about the men except that they were “a little standoffish and a little rude.”
He described how he and a friend who was helping applied latex and makeup and “customized” it all to the clients' tastes – they reportedly found prosthetics too unrealistic – before the two men paid cash and got into a taxi.
Daily Mail reported the men paid him £450 (about $810 at the time) for four hours of work.
Dennis said he went home after the job was done and “thought nothing about it” – until he picked up the free newspaper the next morning.
On the front page was a CCTV image of the same two men taken the day before.
Dennis and the makeup studio immediately contacted the London police and Scotland Yard.
He told MacGillivray that he was taken away for questioning by plainclothes officers. He also passed on makeup brushes, robes, rubber masks and money for DNA testing.
He would later have to testify after the men were caught and eventually convicted along with three accomplices in 2010.
Dennis said the ordeal was “scary” at the time.
But he shared an anecdote that showed he shouldn't have been too worried.
He said a police officer told him they were able to track down the suspects at their homes.
“So these aren’t the brightest bulbs in the box,” Dennis joked.
WATCH | Chris Dennis, aka La Voie, describes his unwitting role in the robbery:
According to Guardiana chain of events and mistakes led to their arrests.
Two thieves crashed into a taxi as they sped off in their getaway car, in which they left behind a mobile phone, a shotgun and four rounds of ammunition as they tried to switch vehicles.
It's unclear what ultimately happened to the jewelry, but This was reported by the Guardian. in 2010 they were likely broken up and resold in other markets.
This is not the first time a makeup studio has reportedly been linked to a high-profile robbery.
IN February 2006Armed thieves carried out the biggest cash heist in British history, stealing £53 million ($105 million at the time) from a Securitas cash vault in Tonbridge, Kent.
They also hired a makeup artist to unknowingly disguise them – and she received materials at Charles Fox's studio.
Dennis doesn't appear to have commented on the story that surfaced about his role in the Graff Diamonds heist, but he clearly enjoys being the center of attention. Dancing under strict control.
In a post on La Voix's Instagram account on Wednesday, the drag queen said she was having the time of her life dancing on the show.
