Jacky Jhaj, 39, charged with fraud and money laundering after staging £111,000 mock wedding with Ukrainian child at theme park – months after terrifying Londoners with out-of-control fireball
A twisted British paedophile who staged a fake “wedding” to a nine-year-old girl at Disneyland Paris had previously blown up a BBC truck while filming himself naked in a stunt that terrified Londoners near the O2 Arena.
Jacky Jhaj, 39, is now behind bars in France after being charged with fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and identity theft over Saturday’s sick ceremony at the theme park – where he played “groom” to a Ukrainian child in a wedding dress.
But shocking new details have emerged about the convicted sex offender’s string of bizarre stunts, including a massive explosion last year that saw him casually stroll naked past burning vehicles as panicked residents called 999.
Naked inferno
In August 2024, the paedophile loaded an old BBC truck and Union Jack-draped vehicles with explosives for what he dubbed ‘Project Dover’ – triggering a fireball so massive that locals feared it was a terrorist attack.
The terrifying blast, using gunpowder and detonation cord, sent the roof of a police van flying 50 feet into the air at an open-air yard in Silvertown, East London.
One bizarre video posted on Reddit shows a naked Jhaj casually walking past the inferno as 25 firefighters battled the out-of-control blaze.
“He has apparently got form in terms of setting up fictitious films,” a source revealed, with Jhaj allegedly offering crew members £5,000 instead of their usual £750 fee to participate.
The explosion was so powerful it resulted in over 90 emergency calls, with London City Airport forced to shut down operations for the evening as residents likened it to a “bomb going off” and an “earthquake.
Disneyland horror
Fast forward to last weekend, and the sex offender was at it again – this time hiring Disneyland Paris for £111,000 to stage a mock wedding with a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl.
The sick Facebook advert for the event has now been revealed, offering children as young as five €200 to be “extras” in what was described as a “high-end wedding rehearsal.”
A hundred children aged 5-15 were recruited, with the ad demanding “absolute confidentiality” from participants who were told to wear “very elegant evening outfits.”
Staff at the theme park quickly realised something was wrong when they spotted the “bride” – a young girl tottering on four-inch heels taped to her feet – and immediately called police.
Dangerous predator
Jhaj has been on the sex offenders register since 2016, when he was jailed for four years after being found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with two 15-year-old girls.
The self-proclaimed “film producer” had posed as an industry professional to gain access to his young victims, with a judge describing him as a “dangerous sexual predator.”
Since his release, he’s pulled a series of increasingly bizarre stunts, including:
- A fake movie premiere in Leicester Square in 2023 where he recruited 200 children to play his “adoring fans”
- A staged funeral featuring an empty coffin
- Giving gifts to children outside dance auditions in June 2024
YouTube scandal
The BBC has revealed that videos of Jhaj’s productions – some featuring a victim he was convicted of sexually exploiting – remained on YouTube for years, mysteriously racking up 12 million subscribers despite his lack of any genuine profile or success.
The videos were only removed last September after the BBC alerted Google to their existence.
Wanted by police
The Metropolitan Police confirmed Jhaj is wanted in the UK for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and failing to comply with Sex Offenders’ Register notification requirements.
We are aware the man has been arrested in France for other matters and officers are in contact with the French authorities,” a spokesperson said.
French prosecutors revealed that Jhaj had used fake documents and posed as a Latvian national to deceive Disneyland into allowing the event, even having his face “professionally made-up so that it appeared totally different from his own.
Mother’s role
Also arrested was the nine-year-old girl’s mother, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman who allegedly told investigators she wanted to organise a “day worthy of a princess” for her daughter.
The child had arrived in France just two days before the staged ceremony and was subjected to a medical examination following the arrests, which confirmed she had not suffered any violence.
Crew walks out
Following the O2 explosion stunt, around 70 crew members walked out of Jhaj’s production in disgust, with many only discovering his true identity after the fact.
Everyone was stunned when we realised what was really going on,” said one recruited “wedding guest” at Disneyland. “Disney acted extremely professionally – they cancelled everything as soon as they realised the bride was a child.”
The case has raised serious questions about how a known sex offender was able to continue staging elaborate productions involving children, with casting agencies and venues apparently unaware of his criminal history.
Jhaj remains in pretrial detention in France as investigations continue into his latest sickening stunt.
