- Edward Paisnel
Edward Paisnel, titled "the Beast of Jersey", was a notorious
paedophile who terrorised the Channel Island ofJersey for a period of eleven years from 1960. He infamously dressed in a rubber mask and nail-studded wristlets, attacking women and children, and would visitHaut de la Garenne care home dressed asSanta Claus . [cite news
title = Beast of Jersey paedophile Edward Paisnel was known to visit children’s home
work = Simon de Bruxelles and David Brown
publisher =The Times
date =2008-02-26
url =http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3434297.ece
accessdate = 2008-03-01 ]Suspicion, both official and social, for the attacks initially fell on an eccentric agricultural worker and fisherman,
Alphonse Le Gastelois , who was arrested as the prime suspect but released through lack of evidence. Public suspicion remained so strong that Le Gastelois' cottage was burnt down in an act of arson. ["Histoire des Minquiers et des Ecréhou", Robert Sinsoilliez, St Malo 1995, ISBN 2905970979] Le Gastelois, fearing for his life, fled toLes Écréhous where he spent 14 years in self-imposed exile on La Marmotière as the second self-styled "king of the Écréhous" ["Jersey Witches, Ghosts & Traditions", Hillsdon, Norwich 1987, ISBN 071170371X] despite being cleared of suspicion when the attacks of the Beast of Jersey continued unabated.On
17 July 1971 Edward Paisnel was arrested attempting to evade a police roadblock set up following an attack on a 17-year-old girl. In his car were discovered elements of his "Beast" costume. In December 1971 he was convicted of 13 counts of assault, rape and sodomy and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He died in prison in 1994.External links
* [http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jimthing/human.htm] Info on biography written by his wife.
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3434297.ece] Times online article on Paisnel.
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