More than 300 guests including children were recruited to be wedding guests for the ceremony in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland Paris, before staff realised the would-be bride was a child
A British man arrested after attempting to marry a nine-year-old girl in Disneyland Paris has been identified as a predatory paedophile who is on the run from authorities in the UK.
The man was arrested as the dawn wedding was about to get underway outside Sleeping Beauty Castle in the French theme park. He was thought to be 22 at first, however police have now revealed he was in fact aged 39 and wanted by UK forces. The man has not been named due to French legal restrictions.
Yesterday the Mirror reported that Disney cast members alerted the police after “groom” was seen with a child, dressed in four-inch heels taped to her feet and accompanied by her Ukrainian mother, at private function being held at 5am on Saturday, before the attraction was open to the public.
Disneyland Paris was reportedly deceived about the nature of the event, with the organiser taking the “identity of a Latvian national” and using “false documents to secure the contract for privatising the park”, BFM TV in France reported.
Guests were recruited online via adverts seeking 200 adults and 100 children aged between five and 15 to play the guests at a ‘rehearsal’ for a wedding in Disneyland, with the event reportedly cost around £110,000.
Now, prosecutors in Meaux, east of Paris, have confirmed the man was known in Britain ‘for sexual offences against minors’. A statement reads: “He is registered on the British sex offenders register and is currently wanted at the national level by the judicial authorities of his country of origin, for failing to comply with the obligations arising from said registration.”
The man is described as the ‘mastermind’ of the wedding stunt, and has been charged with ‘fraud’, ‘breach of trust’, ‘money laundering’ and ‘identity theft’.
Disneyland Paris told French newspaper Le Parisien the event was immediately shut down by its team and that guests were stopped from entering the premises.
A 55-year-old Latvian man, who was also arrested at the scene, claimed he was recruited to play the role of the bride’s father for 12,000 euros but discovered last minute she was nine years old, local news reports.
The entire event was due to be broadcast live on social media, according to prosecutors, with ‘extras’ recruited online to play family.
A police source said the groom has claimed to be the director of a production company and they were shooting a video. An updated statement from the prosecutors office, yesterday read: “So it wasn’t a wedding, but a staged wedding filmed with around a hundred extras. They privatised Disneyland Paris, pretending it was a real wedding.”
One recruited wedding guest told the Le Parisien: “We all thought we were going to attend a wedding… Everyone was stunned, no one expected it. Disneyland did things very well.
“They canceled everything as soon as they realised the bride was a child. We were shocked to see that.”
Another extra, named Yeleen, who attended the ceremony with her daughter, said: “I saw a little girl dressed in white. I saw her hair prepared with curls and a lady picking her up in her arms.
“At that moment, I was shocked. I realised when I saw the child. It was atrocious.”