Who the Hell Is ‘Jacky Jhaj’—the Man Charged Over the Disneyland Pedophile Wedding?

The casting agent had an unusual task to fulfill: they needed to find 100 children, aged from five to 15 years old, to be extras in a “prestigious” high-end wedding rehearsal. This was a job that required “absolute confidentiality,” with the run-through taking place at a hotel next to Disneyland Paris. A bus was chartered to ferry the group to the location, along with another 200 adult extras, just before dawn on Saturday morning.

But instead of going to the four-star hotel, the extras were taken to the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland, where a 39-year-old convicted sex offender named Jaskarn “Jacky” Jhaj was waiting, allegedly to stage a marriage to a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl. The Brit had reportedly rented out the entire theme park for the occasion, for a fee of more than $150,000.

According to witnesses, the 100 extras took their ornate white seats for the ceremony, where a female violin trio played a harmonious set beside a stage covered in flowers as the sun rose. A large cake awaited the guests. However, Jhaj, who was dressed as a groom, was arrested upon his arrival to the park along with three others after the alarm was raised by Disneyland staff. Jhaj now faces the prospect of another stint behind bars after the stunt, which was just the latest in a long list of elaborate ploys designed to meet young women.

Back in 2016, Jhaj was jailed for four years after sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls who he’d duped into thinking he was a 21-year-old Hollywood producer, taking them to parties in a west London suburb and plying them with alcohol.

Not long after his release, Jhaj posted a two-hour video titled “Dangerous Sexual Predator”—referring to a police description of him from when he was convicted—in which he drove around a neighborhood bare-chested in a 4×4, greeting mostly female youngsters and inviting them into the car. He reportedly described one as “like a young Keira Knightly.” Another protested that she could not leave the vehicle “because the teachers will see.”

“What was presented to us as a high-end luxury ‘wedding-themed rehearsal’ turned out to be something extremely disturbing.”

What Jhaj did in the subsequent few years is unclear but he reappeared firmly in the public eye in October 2023, on a Leicester Square red carpet for an apparent film shoot of a movie premiere scene. Up to 200 mostly younger people, some of whom were girls as young as six, were enlisted as extras by organizers “Project BRT” and casters Uni-versal Extras to play “die-hard” fans of Jhaj, and to “cry, far-reach, and faint” in his general direction for £85.

They were also required to wear attire ranging from “Clubbing High School Uniform,” a “Harry Potter type look (came straight from school),” or “PJs.” A text message sent to extras read: “You could very-well [sic] be dressed as if you are to be scouted and requested to join the guests on the red carpet.” Jhaj, wearing a red tuxedo, mixed with the children and shook some of their hands.

It later emerged that Jhaj staged a lavish fake funeral around the same time at one of London’s most historic churches, Brompton Oratory in South Kensington, West London, with a horse-drawn carriage, two vintage cars, a full choir, and a whole host of young mourners. But the presiding priest Father Rupert McHardy called off the service after he realized that it was being filmed, the mourners were paid extras, and the body was absent from the coffin.

Jhaj, who was posing as the brother of the “deceased”—a Latvian man who’d been missing since a New Year’s Eve party near an iced-over dam and who was subsequently presumed dead—was said to have spent about $12,500 on the event, a drop in the ocean compared to his outgoings for the Disneyland farce.

A film industry source who knows of Jhaj told reporters after the funeral stunt: “This man is not a film star or a pop star. He’s a self-aggrandizing fantasist and conman. The motivation last time when he hired all those children in Leicester Square seems to have been to boost the profile of his alter ego on social media.” (Reports suggested Jhaj had almost one million followers on an Instagram account, but VICE could not locate it.)

In June last year, Jhaj was pictured with a group of children surrounding his $4.4 million Bugatti Chiron outside a dance school in East London. There were reports that he gave them golden envelopes, and that one was handed a necklace.

Months later, in September 2024, Jhaj shot a film-style stunt in which he staged a “fireball” explosion near London’s O2 arena. In the video, he flicks cigarettes at a police car which explodes, setting off a domino reaction that detonates a nearby police van and leaves a BBC World News-branded lorry scorched. Jhaj—who is seen sitting at a desk, surrounded by newspapers—walks away from the scene naked, nonchalantly smoking a cigarette. The huge subsequent blaze caused panic locally and more than 100 residents were reported to have called emergency services after not being warned beforehand. (Filming had been due to take place a few weeks earlier but the film crew pulled out after Jhaj removed a prosthetic mask and was recognized, so he considerably upped the fees for the staff, from £750 to £5,000, in an effort to continue the production.)

The source of Jacky Jhaj’s apparent wealth is unclear, though he is understood to have been involved with a real estate firm at some point and once founded his own IT company. For the Disneyland stunt, he hired professional makeup artists to disguise his appearance. Footage shown on French TV featured the pink ribbon bracelets that were given to extras, reading ‘Margo & Jack 21st June 2025.’ He’s been charged with fraud, breach of trust, money laundering, and identity theft, French prosecutors said, while he is also being investigated for “corruption of a minor.”

According to Le Parisien, the girl wore a white bridal dress, was visibly “scared and confused” and unable to walk in her four-inch heels. Her mother, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman, and her apparent partner, a 55-year-old Latvian man—both dressed smartly for the occasion—were apparently required to carry the girl around since she could not walk in the shoes.

When security staff at Disneyland, who’d been led to believe the wedding was real, became aware that the “bride” was well underage and that the attendees were all being paid, they called the police, although another report stated police had been tipped off by an actor who said he’d been recruited to play the role of the bride’s father. Jhaj, who is from Hounslow, West London, was arrested along with the girl’s mother, the Latvian man, and the Ukrainian woman, according to the local assistant prosecutor. The mother and the older man were released after the nine-year-old was ruled not to have been physically mistreated. The mother reportedly told investigators that she wanted her daughter to feel like a Disney “princess.”

One of the extras told France Inter radio: “I saw the panic of the Disney people, then, through the window, I saw a small child with a wedding dress on. A woman was carrying her in her arms and that’s when I understood that the child was really young.”

Another extra told Le Parisien: “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. Everyone was stunned. No one expected this. Disneyland does things very well. They immediately canceled when they understood that the bride was a kid. We were sickened by that.” A third extra, Yameen, who went to Disneyland with her daughter, told reporters: “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 realized when I saw the child. It was atrocious.”

Anande Mare Cross, a casting director at Le Casting Parisien, who cast the extras, says the situation has been “profoundly distressing” and that she’s reached out to the extras to provide moral support. “The event was presented to me as a luxury-themed wedding rehearsal,” she says. “I could never have imagined the hidden, sickening predatory intent behind it.

“As a survivor of child abuse myself, this has shaken me deeply. I am heartbroken that families were put in harm’s way, and I am angry that a known sex offender was allowed to orchestrate such a scenario, inside a public space, under institutional cover. What is even more disturbing is the silence of the French authorities and the total absence of rapid public accountability.

“I’ve tried contacting several government and police offices—only to be met with dead ends or robotic replies.

“I’ve worked for years with international clients and talent. I now realize how crucial it is to implement even stronger screening and verification processes.”

Jhaj was already wanted by UK authorities for breaching “a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a breach of a Sex Offenders’ Register notification requirement,” a Met Police spokesperson said. On Monday, he appeared in court in France and remains in pre-trial detention.

“This story is as bizarre as it is disturbing,” says Peter Williams, the director of the Family Education Trust, a research institute. “I’m appalled by the extent to which systems of safeguarding and the justice system have, up to now, failed to adequately detect and deal with Jacky Jhaj, and hope that now his history of abusive activities can be brought to an end.”

Follow Mattha Busby on Instagram @matthamundo