Man jailed for harassing drag queen who was found dead outside Central Bar in January

A man has been jailed for 30 weeks for harassing the drag queen who was found dead near Central Bar Spoons in January.

Wales Online reports that Donovan Clarkson led a campaign of harassment on social media against Darren Meah-Moore in the months leading up to his death.

He had also once chased the victim down a city centre road whilst filming him and shouting: “He’s a paedophile”.

The defendant was accused of harassing Meah-Moore from April to June 2022 which included daily posts of his Facebook page about the victim’s 1999 conviction of four counts for raping a boy under the age of 16. Meah-Moore was sentenced to three years in a juvenile facility for these crimes.

Newport Crown Court heard that the two men knew each other for two years before the harassment began and according to the victim’s husband, the two were connected on Facebook but weren’t officially friends on the site.

The issue between Clarkson and Meah-Moore began when he shared a link on Facebook which alleged the victim was a paedophile. A further post was shared of Meah-Moore performing on a British Airways float with Clarkson saying that the company had hired a convicted paedophile and attaching a photo of the victim to the post.

The court heard these sorts of posts were shared daily on Facebook and according to the victim’s husband, they were reported to both Facebook and Gwent Police. The police warned the defendant to stop sharing the posts about Meah-Moore but he instead mocked the situation and continued to harass the victim.

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There were also incidents of harassment which happened away from social media including when Clarkson saw the victim outside a Pizza Hut in Cardiff and shouted: “Look who it is. It’s the f***ing paedo”. The same evening, the defendant chased Meah-Moore down Queen Street whilst recording a Facebook Live.

The following month, a pub cancelled a drag performance by Meah-Moore after Clarkson took to social media saying: “A child rapist is performing at the Ampleforth Arms in Oxfordshire. Share your views.”

Clarkson has 15 previous offences, including for harassment of his own ex-husband and was serving a suspended prison sentence when his harassment of the victim began.

After the defendant was arrested, Meah-Moore released a victim statement which is as follows: “This behaviour has caused me upset and I don’t understand why he is doing it. My past happened 23 years ago and I have to live with it every day. I don’t want to be reminded every day and I don’t want other people sharing what is not the truth.”

During the recent sentencing hearing, the victim’s husband shared a statement about the harassment Meah-Moore endured: “Darren lost a couple of gigs due to Donovan’s behaviour. This meant he lost out on wages which put financial pressure on us. Darren’s mental health was affected by the harassment and I would say it changed his personality. The social media posts caused him to drink more and do more drag acts to drown out what happening. By doing drag more he was shielding behind a mask. This was his way of coping with what he had to endure.

“He had a skin condition he was medicated for and over the past 12 months it worsened. I believe one of the reasons for this was the stress he was under due to Donovan’s behaviour.

“It took over my and Darren’s life to the point of affecting our relationship… Darren has recently passed away and I can’t help looking back on our last 12 months as tainted by Donovan’s actions… We were both constantly worried about what would happen next.”

Clarkson plead guilty to the harassment of Meah-Moore and was said to have shown “no remorse” in his interview with the probation service.

He also spoke to Wales Online outside the courthouse that his prosecution was “a waste of taxpayers’ money” and that he didn’t think he did anything wrong.

Representing the defendant, his lawyer, Harry Baker said: “There has been a diagnosis of a personality disorder which will no doubt explain the obsessive behaviour. I’m sure it provides no comfort to any victim in this case but it goes to explain the obsessive behaviour here. It is very often the case, isn’t it, that crown courts are filled with people who find it difficult to function not because they are deliberately bad people – although that is how we categorise them because we make them criminals – but because they have disorders that make it difficult for them to behave as the rest of us do.”

The judge, Alun Enyon-Evans told the court that in March, Clarkson posted again about the now-deceased victim and said his posts were “intended to maximise distress”.

Clarkson was sentenced to 30 weeks in jail for both the harassment of Meah-Moore and breaches of a community order.

He was also given a restraining order against the victim’s husband and he was further banned from mentioning Meah-Moore or his husband on social media for five years.

Feature Image Credit: South Wales Police

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