La Voix, a dazzling drag queen, is stealing the show on Strictly Come Dancing with her confident and unforgettable presence. Her sparkling costumes and carefree attitude have made her a standout performer this season.
The famous performer, known as Chris Dennis, has been hiding a surprising past. Sixteen years ago, he unknowingly played a role in the UK’s biggest ever jewellery robbery, assisting a group of thieves who stole £40 million worth of gems.
It sounds like something from a movie: Dennis, a make-up artist working in London’s Covent Garden, received a request from two men who wanted to appear significantly older.
The 29-year-old artist spent four hours applying liquid latex masks, wigs, and makeup to two men, changing their appearance. They said it was for a music video.
It was all a carefully planned deception. An hour later, Aman Kassaye and Craig Calderwood entered the Graff diamond store on New Bond Street and threatened staff with guns, forcing them to empty the display cases.
The audacious robbery, quickly dubbed the Graff Diamonds Heist, captured global attention because it resembled the plot of movies like Ocean’s Eleven. Due to concerns for his safety, Mr. Dennis wasn’t publicly identified and was placed under police protection after telling officers he believed he was in danger.
It has now come to light that he was the makeup artist involved in the daring plot of August 2009. He revealed his role in a YouTube video, showing that his participation, while unintentional, was key to the scheme.
In a 2021 interview on the Little Did You Know podcast, the performer – known as La Voix from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK – shared the surprising story of how they and a coworker at Charles Fox, a theatrical makeup supplier, unexpectedly became connected to a criminal group.
Dennis shared that he was hired to age two men’s appearances for what he was told was a music video. They began using latex and standard aging makeup techniques to achieve the effect.
He described the men as unremarkable, though a bit reserved. They then asked the makeup artists to step out so they could discuss the look, and requested a few adjustments. After a four-hour makeover costing £450, they left, heading straight for the Graff store.
Okay, so get this – I’m a total makeup artist, right? And I did the makeup for these two guys yesterday. I was just flipping through the paper this morning, and I nearly dropped it! There they were, plastered all over the news in a CCTV photo – the guys I’d made up! It was insane. I literally thought, ‘Wait… those are the men I did the makeup for yesterday!’ I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was just…wild.
Detectives from Scotland Yard visited the make-up studio to question him and collected items like make-up brushes, dresses, money, and masks to analyze for DNA. This DNA evidence ultimately helped them arrest him and several others involved in the crime.
After Mr. Dennis testified in court – an experience he found quite scary – five men were ultimately found guilty.
Kassaye, the mastermind behind the raid, received a 23-year prison sentence, while Calderwood was sentenced to 21 years. Three others involved – Solomon Beyene, Clinton Mogg, and Thomas Thomas – each received 16-year sentences.
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2025-10-26 03:05