A British man who organized a sham marriage with a nine-year-old girl at Disneyland Paris has previously been convicted of child abuse. The 39-year-old man is wanted in his home country for failing to comply with the rules for sex offenders.
British authorities have informed the French judiciary of the convictions. The man is registered in the British register for sex offenders, the French public prosecutor reported on Tuesday.
The Briton is being charged with, among other things, fraud, identity fraud, and money laundering. The victim, a nine-year-old girl from Ukraine, has not suffered any psychological or physical harm from the sham marriage, the prosecutor reports.
The prosecutor states that the Briton misled Disneyland Paris. He allegedly used a false Latvian identity document to rent the party venue in the park. The man was to play the role of the groom, after his face was made unrecognizable through professional makeup. It is still unclear what the purpose of the sham marriage was.
The police were alerted on Saturday by, among others, a man who had been hired to play the girl’s father. He was to receive 12,000 euros for this. Only at the last moment did the hired man realize that the bride was a child.
Hundred guests hired for sham marriage
In addition to the Briton, three other people were arrested: the girl’s 41-year-old mother, a 24-year-old woman from Latvia, and a 55-year-old man from Latvia. The Latvian woman played the girl’s sister at the wedding.
When the young girl appeared in a white dress at the sham marriage, Disneyland staff and concerned guests raised the alarm. About a hundred French people were hired as guests.
It was previously reported that the British man was supposedly 22 years old. Further investigation should reveal why this age was initially mentioned.