A man assigned to impersonate a “bride’s father” has shared how he thwarted a convicted British pedophile’s attempt to “wed” a nine-year-old girl in a sham wedding at Disneyland.
Vitalijs, an ex-Russian special forces paratrooper, sounded the alarm about Londoner Jacky Jhaj, 39, who was planning to “marry” the Ukrainian child in a bogus £111,000 wedding event.
Jhaj, who has a criminal record in the UK for child sexual offenses, was detained and is now incarcerated in France, facing multiple criminal charges.
The sex offender was allegedly the “groom” in a twisted mock wedding ceremony in which the nine-year-old girl was meant to act as his “bride”.
The bizarre wedding was played out before 100 guests at Disneyland Paris’ Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Vitalijs, who only uses his first name for security reasons, revealed he was offered the equivalent of £550 to play “the father of the bride”.
He was first told he would be giving away the girl’s 41-year-old mother.
But when he realised the “bride” was instead an underage girl, he immediately refused to be a part of the bizarre act- and plotted a plan to take down the fake wedding.
Vitalijs, who said he served as a paratrooper in the Red Army before the collapse of the old Soviet Union, added: “I knew I had to do something.”
On the morning of the wedding, the 54-year-old Latvian broke into the theme park without a pass and raised the alarm on the fake wedding.
Vitalijs, who does not speak French or English, said his special forces training to get in and carried a note with him.
It read: “This is not a real wedding. The girl is nine years old!”
Vitalijs said he approached the wedding stage and handed the note to Disney staff, who saw a “scared and confused” child in a big dress with four-inch heels taped to her feet.
They then ensured the wedding was stopped immediately.
French cops arrived within minutes, and several suspects, including Jhaj, were arrested and taken into custody.
Vitalijs was driven to a police station, where he was shown a fake British passport with his photo on it.
Vitalijs said: “I found out that my passport had been forged. I only remember the first name, Mikhail. I don’t remember the surname.
“I remembered that a woman in Riga [Latvia] had asked me for a 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.”
![Pink wedding wristband for [redacted name] & Jack, 21st June 2025.](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/image_c1c2d7.png?strip=all&w=940)
Vitalijs was released without charge, as was the Ukrainian mother and her child.
He said he had got to know the pair after meeting them at a casting session for the Disneyland stunt in the Czech Republic in May.
The mum told him she had known Jhaj for a year, even took her daughter on a holiday with the sex offender while also accepting cash from him.
Jhaj has been described as the “mastermind” behind the sick stunt.
After his arrest, the convicted paedophile told the 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 solely placed in “provisional custody” because “he had no guarantee of legal representation in France, where he has no address”.
In 2016, Jhaj was found guilty of sexual activity with two 15-year-olds in Britain.
Jean-Baptiste Bladier, the Meaux prosecutor, confirmed the Ukrainian child had not suffered “any violence, neither physical nor sexual” and had “not been forced into playing the bride”.
Mr Bladier said Jhaj “played the role of the groom after having been professionally made up to display a face completely different from his own”
The investigation into the fake wedding continues.
