British Sex Offender Charged After Staging Fake Wedding With 9-Year-Old

A British man identified as 39-year-old Jacky Jhaj was arrested and charged at Disneyland Paris on June 21, 2025, after staff noticed that the “bride” in an elaborately staged private ceremony was a 9-year-old Ukrainian girl. Jhaj is a convicted sex offender listed on the UK’s national registry and was reportedly wanted for violating his supervision conditions. He was formally charged with fraud, breach of trust, identity theft, and money laundering. The child was medically examined and found to be unharmed.

How the Ceremony Was Arranged

Jhaj allegedly used a fake Latvian ID to rent out a section of Disneyland Paris for a private pre-opening event. He hired approximately 100 French extras to pose as wedding guests, engaged a professional violin trio, arranged custom costumes, and wore heavy makeup to obscure his own appearance. The child arrived in France just two days before the event. A man hired to act as the child’s father - paid roughly 12,000 euros (approximately $14,000 USD) for the role - alerted park staff when he realized the girl’s true age shortly before the ceremony was to begin.

Park officials contacted authorities and halted the event. Disneyland Paris stated it had been deceived by fraudulent documentation and was not complicit in the planning. Prosecutors confirmed the park was manipulated.

Arrests and Charges

Three others were arrested alongside Jhaj: the child’s 41-year-old Ukrainian mother, a 55-year-old Latvian man, and a 24-year-old Latvian woman who had been cast as the girl’s sister. After medical examination confirmed the child was physically unharmed, the mother and the older Latvian man were released. The younger Latvian woman and Jhaj appeared before a judge in Meaux on June 23.

Jhaj was placed in pretrial detention. French authorities stated they are cooperating with UK counterparts to investigate how a registered sex offender managed to orchestrate a cross-border event of this scale.

References: Man arrested after allegedly attempting to marry 9-year-old at Disneyland | British man charged over ‘wedding’ with child, 9, at Disneyland Paris | Sex offender arrested after attempted ‘mock wedding’ with child at Disneyland Paris