A drag queen who was set to host a Welsh community’s first-ever gay pride parade has been arrested after being caught in a sting by predator hunters. Andrew James Bryant, also known as Miss Gin, was arrested on July 3.
Bryant’s arrest was first announced by STOP Stings in collaboration with the Lincolnshire-based Guardian Angels, both of which are community predator hunting groups carrying out volunteer child safeguarding activities. Bryant, who also goes by the name Andrew James Way, is alleged to have attempted to groom a decoy posing as a 14-year-old boy.
The sting targeting Bryant was streamed live to Facebook on July 3, with multiple predator hunters confronting the man in a public parking lot.
“I’ve got in my possession a chat log that is disgusting. It is very, very consistent with somebody who is a very proficient groomer, and is grooming somebody who he believes to be a 14-year-old boy,” one of the predator hunters says to Bryant, who is casually smoking a cigarette throughout the interaction.
Bryant initially attempts to deny the claims, stating that he believed the decoy account belonged to someone of legal age. But the predator hunter immediately pushes back, advising Bryant he has written proof of the decoy advising Bryant he was underage.
“That is an abject lie, isn’t it,” the predator hunter says, with Bryant finally conceding after some discussion.
Perhaps most disturbingly, the predator hunters reveal that the decoy account has been posing as a mentally vulnerable child who was unsure about his sexuality, something Bryant appears to have used as leverage.
“Do you know what chilled me about this particular chat log,” the predator hunter asks. “This lad you’ve been speaking to doesn’t know if he’s gay or not, does he? You are forcing yourself on him.”
Bryant shrugs off the revelation by attempting to apologize.
“Your apology means absolutely nothing to me. You have been speaking to what you believe to be a child online, and you were telling this 14-year-old boy that you want to ‘break him in.’”
Bryant requested lewd photos from the boy, and reportedly tried to make the child more comfortable by telling him that other minors had already sent him photos. The predator hunters were unable to determine if that was a grooming tactic, or if Bryant really had received other photos from children unrelated to the sting.
In addition to requesting lewd images from the boy, Bryant also reportedly asked to meet the child in a hotel for sex and gave him instructions to state he was Bryant’s nephew if questioned.
The sting live-stream ended with police arriving. The predator hunters announced shortly after that Bryant had been arrested and charged.
During the interaction with predator hunters, Bryant called himself a “drag artist” and a “drag queen” in apparent response to the mention of the account he used to message the decoy. He was well-known in his community as a drag queen by the name of Miss Gin.
In 2019, Bryant was profiled by North Wales Live, which described him as a “drag legend.” The fluff piece stated that Bryant had been working in drag for decades, and first began performing in women’s clothes when he was 10 years old.
Bryant retired from professional drag shows that year after sustaining an injury and deciding to settle down with his then-fiancé Timothy King. Bryant and King, who appears to be significantly younger than he is, were set to be married in 2020.
Earlier this year, Bryant announced he was reviving Miss Gin for the purposes of throwing the first gay pride parade in the community of Welshpool, Wales.
The event, which had been due to take place on July 22, was first floated at a town council meeting in December after Bryant submitted plans to host the event. But, on June 26, it was announced that the event had been cancelled as a result of “unforeseen circumstances.”
Welshpool Town Council has confirmed the event will not go ahead, with the Town Clerk releasing a short statement reading: “The town council and Andrew James Way have decided not to work together in the near future, meaning that the planned Pride event for 2023 will be cancelled.”
The event, which was advertised widely, was reportedly sponsored by major retailers including Tesco, Morrisons, and Rikki Lloyd.
Bryant is the second known pedophile drag queen to be identified in the small country of Wales.
As previously reported by Reduxx, well-known drag queen Darren Moore was found dead on the evening of Sunday, January 22, on the streets of Cardiff City Centre. Following his suspicious death, media coverage was largely focused on Moore’s career as a drag performer and member of the Cardiff gay scene, with many outlets, including the Guardian, failing to note that he was also a convicted child sex offender.
Moore was once known as Darren Sewell, and had been convicted of four counts of rape on a boy under the age of 14 while living in South Wales in 1999. As a result, he spent 3 years in a Young Offenders’ Institution. Following his offense, Moore was also banned from having contact with children.
Just after Moore’s death was announced, the founder of Drag Queen Story Hour UK, Sab Samuel, rallied his supporters to donate to a GoFundMe to support Moore’s funeral costs and husband.
Original Article: https://reduxx.info/uk-drag-queen-who-was-set-to-host-welshpools-first-pride-parade-arrested-during-predator-sting/
