A former Russian special forces paratrooper has revealed how he infiltrated Disneyland Paris to stop a convicted British paedophile from staging a £111,000 fake wedding to a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl.
Vitalijs, 54, who only uses his first name for security reasons, was hired to play the “father of the bride” before discovering the shocking truth about the ceremony.
The Latvian man used his military training to break into the theme park and alert staff about the sick stunt orchestrated by Londoner Jacky Jhaj, 39.
“I knew I had to do something,” the former Red Army paratrooper said.
Jhaj was arrested at the Sleeping Beauty Castle on June 21 and remains in French custody on charges of fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and identity theft.
The convicted sex offender had rented the entire park outside opening hours for the elaborate ceremony involving 100 hired guests.
Vitalijs was initially told he would be giving away the girl’s 41-year-old mother for £550.
He only discovered the bride was actually the nine-year-old child five hours before the ceremony.
“I immediately refused to be a part of the bizarre act and plotted a plan to take down the fake wedding,” he said.
On the morning of the wedding, Vitalijs broke into Disneyland without a pass, carrying a handwritten note.
“This is not a real wedding. The girl is nine years old!” the note read.
Despite not speaking French or English, he located a Disney employee and handed over the warning.
Staff immediately spotted the “scared and confused” child wearing a wedding dress with four-inch heels taped to her feet.
The wedding was stopped immediately,” Vitalijs said.
French police arrived within minutes and arrested several suspects including Jhaj.
Vitalijs was taken to a police station where officers showed him a forged British passport bearing his photograph.
“I found out that my passport had been forged. I only remember the first name, Mikhail. I don’t remember the surname,” he said.
He recalled a woman in Riga asking for his passport photo “for a pass to Disneyland.”
Of course, I told the police that it wasn’t me and that it wasn’t my passport.
Vitalijs, the Ukrainian mother and child were all released without charge.
He revealed he had met the pair at a casting session in the Czech Republic in May.
The mother told him she had known Jhaj for a year and had taken her daughter on holiday with the sex offender.
“This Ukrainian woman told me that she had known this Jacky for a year. He paid her money and helped her family,” Vitalijs said.
“They went somewhere together to relax, the three of them. I think he won her over with gifts.”
Jhaj has been described as the “mastermind” behind the twisted stunt.
Following his arrest, the paedophile told examining magistrates in Meaux: “I’m just a simple actor who took part in a film shoot.
His lawyer Jean-Christophe Ramadier said Jhaj was placed in “provisional custody” because “he had no guarantee of legal representation in France, where he has no address.”
In 2016, Jhaj was jailed for four years after being found guilty of sexual activity with two 15-year-old girls in Britain.
He had posed as a 21-year-old Hollywood producer to groom the teenagers, picking them up from school in a Range Rover.
Jean-Baptiste Bladier, the Meaux prosecutor, confirmed the Ukrainian child had not suffered “any violence, neither physical nor sexual.”
The prosecutor said the girl had “not been forced into playing the bride.
Jhaj “played the role of the groom after having been professionally made up to display a face completely different from his own,” Bladier added.
Vitalijs revealed he had trained in London to become an “international bodyguard” after his Soviet special forces service.
He said he went on to protect several French film stars including Jean-Claude Van Damme.
The elaborate fake wedding had been filmed with “around 100 extras” who believed they were attending a real ceremony.
Witnesses reported seeing the small child unable to walk in her high heels.
“We were not told at any time that it was about a film shoot. We all thought we were going to be part of a wedding,” one guest said.
“Everyone was stunned. No one expected this.”
Disneyland Paris confirmed the event was “immediately cancelled” after “significant irregularities were identified.”
The Metropolitan Police said Jhaj is wanted in Britain for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and sex offender notification requirements.
The investigation into the fake wedding continues as French authorities work with British police on the case.
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