A British man has been charged in connection with organising the “mock wedding” of a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl in Disneyland Paris.
French prosecutors said the 39-year-old man was a convicted sexual offender who is wanted in the UK. His name has not been made public.
He was arrested when police were called to the amusement park on Saturday morning at dawn by a “guest” who said he had been hired by the man to play the father of the bride.
The man said he had been paid €12,000 to play the role and that he only realised at the last minute that the “bride” was a child, according to a statement by Meaux prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier.
The statement also said the Ukrainian girl – who arrived in France two days earlier – had not been a victim of either physical or sexual violence and had not been “forced to play the role” of bride.
A woman who says she was hired to play the role of a guest told BFMTV that when she arrived at Disneyland Paris she saw a “little girl dressed in white with her hair all done up and I saw a woman who picked her up in her arms… and I was shocked, I burst into tears”.
“When I saw [a] child – it was horrific.”
Around 100 French extras had been recruited to take part in the fake ceremony, which was to be filmed in a private capacity.
The British man had reportedly hired Disneyland Paris for several hours for the stunt, in which he was to play the role of the groom.
Preliminary findings also stated he had allegedly been “made-up professionally so that his face appeared totally different from his own”, according to the prosecutor.
Three other people – including the 41-year-old mother of the girl, a 24-year-old Latvian woman who was to play the bride’s sister and a 55-year-old Latvian man – were also arrested.
By Tuesday only the British man was still being held by police.
The British man and the Latvian woman appeared in front of a judge in Meaux on 23 June and the man was charged with fraud, breach of trust, money laundering, and identity theft and placed in pretrial detention.
The Latvian remains a witness in the investigation.
The prosecutor’s statement also said that Disneyland Paris had been “deceived” and that the organiser had used a fake Latvian ID to hire the venue. Disneyland Paris can be rented by members of the public outside opening hours.
BFMTV reported that the “mock wedding” may have cost organiser more than €130,000 (£110,000).
Mr Bladier’s statement said that the British man “was reportedly convicted in the past, including for offences of a sexual nature against minors.
“He is, as such, listed in the British database of sexual offenders and is currently wanted nationally by the judicial authorities of his country of origin due to a breach of the requirements deriving from said order.”
It is unclear, at this stage, what the point of the “stunt” was.
The investigation continues.
