Behind The Mask 2
Good evening
and welcome to another edition of Behind The Mask,
where we talk to noted members of our profession about their lives, influences
and memories. Tonight, we are incredibly
honoured and delighted to be joined by three women whose reputation has made
them a household name to the world at large - despite never knowingly speaking
in public. Ladies and Gentlemen, please
welcome to Behind The Mask the China Doll Gang.
Thank you, John - it is a great honour
for us to be here as well.
I should point
out at this point that your answers to the questions are going to be typed onto
a subtitle screen now for the benefit of everyone, in order to preserve your
anonymity.
Indeed - and we ask for the audience’s
understanding and patience in this.
So I wonder
if I can start with asking you how the three of you first met - without going
too much into the details, of course.
Of course, John. We first met when we house shared in the
suburbs of London.
So you were
students together?
Not as such - but we all answered an
advert for rooms in a house to the north of the city. We got on well together, and for a while
there were no real problems - except for the fact our landlord was also a fence
for the local criminal fraternity.
Indeed - and the first we knew of this
was when some of his ’friends’ decided to reclaim the money he owed them by
robbing our house. They were quite
forceful about it, and we spent most of that evening very tightly bound and
gagged in our underwear.
As you can imagine, that was not the
most - comfortable of experiences, but for one of us in particular it fuelled a
need for revenge.
Would it be
imprudent to ask which of the three it was?
None of us, actually - it was our
fourth housemate. When she eventually
freed herself and then us, we were going to call the police, but she stopped us
and told us she knew who had done this - that they were professional colleagues
of her. She then asked us if we wanted
to get revenge.
Well, we were all for that, so she
told us the best way to get back at them was to “do unto them as they did unto
us” to misquote scripture. The next
night, we were surprised to find ourselves visiting the house of one of the
men, and robbing it.
I presume you
were not fully fledged Dolls at that time?
<Laugh> No, we were not, but our flatmate made us all
wear boiler suits and balaclavas, and she bound and gagged the wife and mother
while we retrieved our stuff. What we
did realise then was that we liked the thrill of the event, and also that we
got a great deal of satisfaction from it, so when we returned home we asked her
to teach us more.
As you know,
we always ask for questions for our guests, and as you can imagine a lot of
people are very curious as to how you came up with the motif and style of your
working. Perhaps we can start with the
costumes and masks - how did you choose them?
The idea for the grey bodysuits
actually came from my drama studies - we had been doing a lot of work in mime,
and I was struck by two things. First,
the simplicity of the body suit, and secondly how it makes everyone look alike,
particularly when you hide your hair under the hood.
It is also incredibly practical - more
than once we have entered a target building dressed in normal clothes, then
stripped off to the bodysuits, and within five minutes we are ready to begin.
I’m sure the
audience can understand the usefulness of such an approach - but what about the
masks?
Ah - now that came from a couple of
sources. The first was again myself - I watched a Kabuki theatre demonstration, and was
struck at how much emotion you had to convey in movement and gesture when your
face is hidden.
The other, believe it or not, was an
old graphic novel I picked up called V for Vendetta - the title character in
that wears a Guy Fawkes mask, both as a symbol and as a very effective
disguise. There were comments there
about how the detection methods in the novel would not work - and the gears in
my mind started turning.
So it came from
a real desire to hide who you were behind a recognisable disguise?
In a way, yes - the choice of the
white masks came really because they were cheaper, but also because when we all
wore them for the first time we were struck by how alike we looked in the garb
- so we felt it was perfect.
The other
very real part of your image is, of course, the silence - was that something
you adopted at the same time as the costumes?
No - at first we used a voice
modulator, to disguise our voices, but we tried to use printed instructions and
speak as little as possible. After all,
if the people we visited realised we were three women, they may be tempted to
resist more.
There was one family we visited - the
husband was the manager of a local supermarket, mother stayed at home, kid was
at private school - where that worked extremely well. We went in, grabbed the wife, grabbed the
daughter when she came home, then got the wife to call the husband.
Forgive me
for saying this, ladies, but that does sound very similar to a certain Peter
Fonda film.
Well, the daughter was 17, not 10, but
yes that was an influence on our approach.
At any rate, we got the cash, but at the point of handing over the
modulator on my mask failed, so I had to put my fingers to my lips and stay
silent. I noted the look of fear in the man’s
eyes, and told the others when we got home.
That was when we decided that, in the future, we would remain silent
whenever we were at work.
Before we
discuss that most striking aspect of your reputation, I just want to go back to
the fact that at the beginning there were four of you - and yet, with only a
few exceptions, you have been reported as a trio. Can you explain that a bit further?
As we developed our style, we found
four was a little too many people, so we initially always had one of us
planning and acting as a driver or back up.
As we grew in confidence, our friend turned her considerable talents to
planning our targets, scouting out locations, and suggesting stratagems for
approaching and securing the occupants.
It was also her who suggested we study
the Chinese style of rope work - she had read how it was a fast and efficient
method for securing anyone. We tried it
on ourselves, and had to agree it was a good approach - one we have adopted to great effect ever since.
I see - and are you at liberty to say what happened to her?
She was approached, after a target we
visited in the North Nottingham area, by a man who was her mentor with an offer
to join a large organisation. She now
works as the personal assistant for the head of that organisation - but she
left knowing she could teach us no more.
To return
then to your style of approach to the people you visit, the number one question
we had in our poll was simple - how did you manage to stay silent for so long?
Practice
Of
course - but there has been fevered speculation in the press as to your
approach. One theory is that you actually gag
yourselves with tape before donning the masks.
Another has that you place a sponge or some sort of cloth in your
mouths, but have disciplined yourself to keep it there. Still another has that you almost dare
yourselves not to speak. While I can
understand you may be reluctant to say exactly how you do it, is there any or
no truth to any of these rumours?
<Chuckle>
Forgive us John - we too have heard so many of these
rumours as well. Let me say this - any
and all of these suggestions have a small grain of truth to them, but honestly
the only real answer we can give is practice.
Some questions are perhaps best left unanswered for now.
Of course -
perhaps we can move on to discuss some of your experiences. You have taken very great steps to preserve
your names and true identities, but has anyone ever come close to discovering
anything about you that may have led to your unmasking?
There have been occasions, yes, but by
and large they have been unsuccessful. The
few times people have come close we have taken steps to make sure they cannot
use that information.
Indeed - there was one reporter who
started to ask about us, and got a little too close for comfort.
What happened
on that occasion?
We kidnapped her and took her to visit
the home of her editor - made her do some of the binding and guarding for us,
and made sure she was photographed doing the work. To make it worse, we dressed her in a spare outfit, and
gagged her so that she could not talk.
As a result, she was confronted with the dilemma - tell all, and be
charged with aggravated burglary, or stay silent. So far, she has stayed silent.
A very
effective approach, I am sure. Are there
any toher occasions you are at liberty to talk about?
Well - there is the time we met our
apprentice.
Oh yes - we visited a woman who ran a
very successful internet jewellery business, and trussed her and her
housekeeper in our usual manner. Then
one of us waited for a shipment of gems we knew was been delivered that day -
when a couple of teenage girls decided that would be a good house to “steam” as
it is called.
Thanks for reminding me - I ended up
bound and gagged on the couch while they ran upstairs. Both of you were making sure the real woman
was safely stowed, so I can only imagine the look on your faces when you found
me.
Would you
care to share now?
It was one of those moments that came
close to our breaking our vow of silence.
Anyway, we released her, she changed, and we decided to surprise the
young ladies. We trussed
them, took them in our van, and left them in a deserted warehouse with a little
note for them.
The notes are
another way you communicate that has been widely reported. Are they prepared in advance or on the spur
of the moment?
It depends on the situation - that
time, it was spur of the moment. We
wanted to see if they were possible new members of our craft - one was, the other was not.
The first approached us, and actually did a form of work experience with
us.
That would be
one of the rare occasions when four dolls were reported - the raid on Meier
Jewellery?
<Nods>
And
the young lady in question?
Is currently working for the same
person as our former colleague, completing her training.
One of the more
recent visits you made has been widely reported, as it involved a very
prominent publisher and a potentially embarrassing set of revelations. I was wondering if you could take us through
your preparations for that visit, to illustrate the way you work.
Well, as much of our part in that
night is public knowledge - we were asked by a lady of our acquaintance to
visit the home of the publisher, and retrieve the contents of a certain lap
top, in return for allowing us to take anything else we could find there. As is our way, we spent time researching the
man - his wife, his daughter, and his habits - and we were informed that he and
his wife would be away on this one particular night.
We approached the house and parked on
the kerb, then slipped to the side door.
We could see the lights were on, and as we left the van we thought we
could see someone looking out. Not
unusual however - as we gained entry to the kitchen.
As we closed the door - this girl who
was obviously slightly tipsy walked in.
We recognised her as the daughter - small, auburn hair, wearing a short
red dress with spaghetti straps and very high heels.
To say she was surprised was to put it
mildly - it was a simple thing to grab her, put a gloved hand over her mouth,
and get her attention with my gun. We
walked her into the front room, and found five more girls, all of a similar age
waiting there.
We had expected a party of some type -
the research had shown that particular night was the daughter’s 18th birthday -
so we split them into two groups. One
group we invited to sit on dining chairs, and the other three we gave rolls of
tape to and made them secure them in place.
So you did
not employ your usual rope tie?
Not at first, no - it was important
that they were secured quickly. One of
the three doing the taping was the daughter, but one of the others interested
us greatly.
That would be
Miss Sara Philips?
Indeed - I recognised her, and she
us. Her words said as much, as she tried
to calm the others down. Anyway, three
were taped to the chair, and then the fourth as I took the birthday girl out of
the room. You then brought Sara to the
bedroom, and it was while we were retrieving the information that she began to
- annoy us.
Annoy is one word - we gave her a
perfectly polite and sensible warning, and she chose to be angry with us. So we felt compelled to bind her tightly,
before we returned her to her friends.
We felt we behaved with admirable professionalism.
We retrieved the information, took
what we could find, and left the party to enjoy the rest of their evening. Of course, it was not what they had planned,
but we hoped it would be an experience for them.
That it was
an experience was evident from the blog post that Sara Philips made a few days
later. I’d be interested in what you
think of this young woman, given she has also been visited by other associates
of yours recently.
Miss Philips - is a most remarkable
and determined young woman, but we did warn her that she may find herself in
serious trouble one day if she continued.
It may sound strange, but we admire her tenacity and skill. We warned her in good faith, and we hope she
still sees the sense in the warning.
She did
report that you would return if you felt it necessary. Would you carry out that threat?
If we still felt it necessary, then
yes.
Moving on,
have there been any occasions, since you fully adopted the China Doll persona,
when you have had to take a different approach?
One - and like our good friends Mister
Tall and Mister Small, it was an occasion when we met a very great and skilled
lady who we are not at liberty to talk about.
As a result of that, we had the opportunity to have one visit where we
could be vocal - although we spent the second half of that evening in our
normal guise, visiting a certain well know soap actress and her partner.
Was it a pleasant
experience?
For us, yes and very profitable. For the two women - well, that is a story for
them to tell.
We seem to be
coming to the end of our time, so let me ask how you relax when you are not
Dolls - what do you do in your downtime?
If we go from left to right...
Well, I still maintain my interest in
theatre and drama, and take part in an amateur dramatics society. I find it helps hone my skills. Apart from that, a good book
For me, I design clothing for friends
- one recently wore a gown of mine for her wedding.
Finally, I work out and run
triathlons.
And
your plans for the future?
<Silence>
Ladies, thank
you for being with us today. Join us
next time on Behind The Mask, when our guest will be
John Jacobs. Thank you and good night.
Return to the DiD channel index