Oct 12, 202113 min read

Edward Paisnel | The Beast of Jersey

Updated: Oct 14, 2021

For 14 years, the Women & Children who lived on the small island of Jersey were terrorised by a masked, serial rapist. A real-life bogeyman.

On 17th July 1971, police officers, John Riseborough and Tom McGinn were on patrol in the St Helier region of the island of Jersey.

Jersey is the largest island in the channel island archipelago and it is located just off of the French Coast of Normandy. Although the United Kingdom is “considered responsible” for Jersey, it is not a part of the UK, rather it is a “Crown Dependency.” This means that the link between the two is through the Monarchy and not through Parliament. The island is 9 miles long and 5 miles wide, making it smaller than Greater London. It is divided into 12 Parishes, the name of which is taken from the Parish church.

Pursuit

It was proving to be an ordinary shift for the two officers until 11.45 pm, when a car, which was being driven rather erratically, ran a red light in front of them.

They chased it through the streets at speeds of up to 75mph, which ended in their patrol car being written off and the driver of the pursued vehicle being rugby tackled to the ground in a tomato field.

The driver was duly hauled back to the station where, for the first time, the arresting officers got a good look at him. And boy was he a sight to behold.

The man, who was identified as 46-year-old building contractor and Jersey local, Edward Paisnel, was wearing a rather unusual get-up, to say the least.

He had on woollen gloves and an old, musty-smelling raincoat, which had been studded with 1-inch nails across the shoulders, cuffs and lapels. His trousers, also old, had been tucked into his socks and he was wearing a pair of carpet slippers.

His pockets contained a woollen cap, two lengths of cord, empty cigarette packets, a roll of adhesive tape and a torch, which he had modified with the tape, so it would only emit a narrow beam of light. He also had in his possession, a wig of spiky, black hair.

With mounting suspicion that they had at last found the “Beast of Jersey”, the suspicion became overwhelming when they removed the final item from the raincoat. It was a homemade, horrific facemask.

Paisnel had tape marks on his face, which matched the tape on the mask, suggesting he had been wearing it recently.

When he was quizzed about his unusual appearance & possessions, he claimed that he was a member of a secret society, which included several important people and that they regularly held sex parties, one of which he had been on his way to that evening. He had borrowed the car as he did not want to be recognised and he was speeding because he was running late.

He said the nails, studded into his clothing, were to defend himself in case a martial arts expert decided to attack him.

Jersey, the home of secret society sex parties and martial arts experts, who knew?

The officers, unsurprisingly, did not believe a word of it and he was reprimanded in custody whilst police searched his home.

Shrine

Paisnel lived in a sealed-off annexe that he had built onto the side of the home where his wife, daughter and two stepchildren lived. He had been married twice and Joan, his second wife, who he married in 1959 has since claimed the marriage was pretty much a sham. The couple lived separate lives and were no longer intimate, Joan described Paisnel as having a very low sex drive yet he did have a mistress at the time of his arrest, who has been identified as Florence Hawkins, a nurse. They would go on to marry in 1989, whilst Paisnel was in prison.

Police would find a secret room in Paisnels annexe and the same, pungent, musty odour that the man omitted was also present. The room was locked, windowless and contained an assortment of incriminating possessions.

Police would find an old blue tracksuit and a fawn raincoat, both of which were heavily soiled in a variety of substances, including semen. They also found homemade wigs and matching eyebrows along with several hats.

There was a camera hanging on a hook and several photographs of various houses. There was also several items of black magic paraphernalia, a homemade black magic altar consisting of an alcove covered by a red curtain. There was a sizeable library about the occult and black magic rituals, and a very large curved wooden sword hanging on the wall above a glass chalice.

Paisnel admitted to having a deep interest in the dark arts and that he was obsessed with Gilles de Rais. Rais was a 15th Century occultist who is believed to be the inspiration for Bluebeard. Rich and eccentric, Rais swindled all his money and was hanged in 1440, for the ritualistic torture and murder of dozens of children. It has been claimed that his kill count could run into the hundreds.

Paisnel proudly claimed to be an ancestor of de Rais.

Reign of Terror

Edward Paisnel’s crime spree had begun way back in 1957 and it is quite an extensive one.

The first attacks were always on lone women, who were either waiting at, travelling to or travelling from bus stops. They would find themselves being dragged to a nearby field with a rope around their necks before being subjected to a brutal sexual assault.

He attacked a 29-year-old in St Helier in November 1957, a 20-year-old in Trinity in March 1958, a 31-year-old in Trinity in July 1958, a 15-year-old in Grouville in 1959 and a 28-year-old in the Parish of St Martin in October 1959.

Paisnel’s crimes then began to escalate and evolve in several ways, he was becoming more confident and more sadistic.

On 14th February 1960, a 12-year-old boy was abducted from his home in St Saviour, a rope was placed around his neck and he was taken outside and sexually assaulted.

On 6th March 1960, a 26-year-old woman was waiting at a bus stop in St Brelade, when she would accept a lift off of a man who claimed to be a doctor on his way to pick up his wife. Once inside the car, she was attacked and blindfolded, tied up and dragged to a field where she was raped. Afterwards, she was taken back to the car but managed to escape when they came to a stop. Two men from another car and a couple who lived nearby came to her aid but her attacker had managed to flee.

In March 1960, in St Martin, a 43-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter would be subjected to a terrifying home invasion in which the phone lines had been cut. The woman was attacked by the intruder, who demanded money and threatened to kill her. She managed to escape his clutches, calling for her daughter to lock herself in a bedroom, she then fled the house and raised the alarm. When she returned, the man was gone but he had raped her daughter.

In April 1960, a 14-year-old girl, in Grouville, would awake to the sight of a masked man staring at her, he fled when the child screamed. This would be the first appearance of the mask that he would become infamous for.

In July 1960 an 8-year-old boy was abducted from his home by a man in a raincoat. He was taken to a field, sexually assaulted and then taken back home and left on his doorstep.

In February 1961, in St Helier, a 12-year-old boy was assaulted.

In March 1961 an 11-year-old boy was assaulted this time in the parish of St Saviour.

In April 1961, in St Martin, an 11-year-old girl was assaulted.

All of these children were abducted from their homes and taken to a field where they were sexually assaulted. They were then either left in the field or taken back home.

Scotland Yard

The Beast had been active now for three years and the police were no closer to catching him. They had questioned 30,000 people, called in all males with criminal records, they had fingerprinted all but thirteen men on the island and still, they could not get a break in the case.

Caving in to mounting pressure and public anger, they called in outside help, in the shape of Detective Superintendent Jack Manning, a celebrated murder detective from Scotland Yard.

Manning encouraged the Islanders to “turn detective” and set up neighbourhood watches and look out for each other. He also issued the press with a “toolkit” for helping to track down the perpetrator.

Police had long concluded that all these attacks were committed by the same individual and this toolkit pulled it all together into a detailed profile of the suspect.

He always attacked at night — between 10 pm and 3 am, usually on weekends.
He was extremely familiar with the island. Especially the Eastern side.
He was 40–45 years of age.
He was around 5ft 6" and of a medium build.
He was softly spoken and had an “Irish accent.”
He had a moustache.
He gave off a distinct “musty smell.”
His face was always covered, either with a mask or a scarf.
He wore a thigh-length jacket or raincoat, a peaked cap and gloves.
He always carried a torch.
He would usually enter the house via a bedroom window.
The victims would usually be blindfolded and tied up with a rope placed around their necks.
They would be taken to a field, sexually assaulted and then returned home.
The attacker would talk constantly during his attacks, mentioning a wife, a deceased mother and would make references to cigarettes or a cigarette lighter.
He also claimed to have killed someone.

The Suspect

The police were not entirely without a suspect during the Beasts reign of terror.

Alphonse Le Gastelois was, at one point, the main suspect. He was a loner and liked to go on late-night walks and because he had a raincoat, that was enough to assume that he was a serial rapist.

Alphonse had been questioned for 14 hours and released due to a lack of evidence. His name, however, was still leaked to the press and a hate campaign ensued, culminating in an arson attack on his home.

Had the police focused on the thirteen men who had refused to provide fingerprints, one of whom was Paisnel, instead of who owned a raincoat…well, maybe an innocent man's life would not have been put in danger. But hey, what do I know?

His name was cleared only because the attacks continued in spite of his absence from the island.

Alphonse lived in exile for 14 years, scavenging lobsters on Les Écréhous, a small group of islands 6 miles from the North East Coast of Jersey and 8 miles from France. They are mainly inhabited by holidaymakers and fishermen and are not easy to access. Long term residents are few and far between. Alphonse described his time there as “paradise” after what he had endured. He declared himself as the King of Écréhous and became an attraction for the visiting holidaymakers.

He eventually returned to Jersey where he died in 2012 at the age of 97.

Return

Although it seemed to slow down, the presence of Scotland Yard did not deter the Beast entirely and he was back to terrorising the small community in April 1963 with the assault of a 9-year-old boy in the St Saviour Parish.

In November 1963, again in St Saviour, he assaulted an 11-year-old boy and then lay low until July 1964 when he attacked a 10-year-old girl in Trinity.

In August 1964, in Grouville, a 16-year-old boy would be assaulted by the Beast and then he would once again, disappear.

Wait and See

In 1966 a letter would be sent to the police claiming to be the Beast.

Note, the spelling and grammatical errors, which I have left in.

My Dear Sir,

I think that it is just the time to tell you that you are just wasting your time, as every time I have done wat I always intended to do and remember it will not stop at this, but I will be fair to you and give you a chance. I have never had much out of this life but I intend to get everything I can now…..I have always wanted to do the perfect crime. I have done this, but this time let the moon shine very britte in September because this time it must be perfect, not one but two. I am not a maniac by a long shot but I like to play with you people. You will hear from me before September and I will give you all the clues. Just to see if you can catch me.

yours very sincerely

Wait and See

In August of 1966, a 15-year-old girl, was assaulted in the Parish of Trinity and for the first time, the victim would have long, uniform scratches on the torso, this, although not known at the time, was the result of the nails studded into his costume. He had hidden in the bushes outside her home, which of course startled her, causing her to flee. Paisnel managed to catch and overpower her before he dragged her to a field, where she was sexually assaulted. She recalls him saying to her “Do you know how long it takes to kill a woman…five minutes.”

The second attack he promised in the letter, did not happen.

There is a long history of criminals sending letters to the press or police, to the victims or their families. There is also a long history of fakes. Hundreds if not thousands of letters claimed to have been sent by Jack the Ripper, yet only two are accepted as being genuine.

So was this the Beast or a trickster?

Police believed that it was genuine and Joan Paisnel seemingly confirmed it by positively identifying her husband's handwriting.

The Beginning of the End

In August 1970, a 13-year-old boy was abducted from his home, in St Helier, taken to a field behind his house and sexually assaulted. He was warned that if he told anyone what had happened, his parents would be harmed. He was then returned home.

Initially, the terrified child kept quiet when questioned by his parents about his distressed demeanour and dishevelled appearance but eventually, he caved and told them what had happened.

The Beast was back. But not for long.

“Prove it”

After his arrest, Paisnel varied between offering up explanations, babbling incoherently about the occult or straight-up refusal to answer, arrogantly telling officers to “prove it.”

It became clear that Paisnel had planned his attacks meticulously, photographing and stalking the homes of potential victims and studying “the target obsessively over time to be sure of their routines and movements.”

He had dropped several red herrings to evade capture, the Irish accent was fake, he was a Jersey local. The stolen vehicles could not be traced back to him, the wigs and fake eyebrows concealed his real features and even the mention of cigarettes was a ruse as Paisnel did not smoke.

All of this premeditation ensured that the only defence he could have possibly utilised, that of insanity, would simply not wash.

Trial

In December 1971, it would take only 38 minutes of deliberation for Paisnel to be found guilty on all 13 charges against 6 of his victims.

He was sentenced to 30 years, which he would serve at Winchester Prison in England, due to Jersey having no provisions for long term prisoners.

Attorney-General Mr Peter Crill called Paisnel “a cunning, hideous man, who showed no remorse or horror or revulsion for his crimes.”

He appealed his sentence in September 1972 but the appeal was quashed.

Release & Death

Paisnel excelled in prison, so much so, he was released 10 years early for being a “model prisoner.” It was almost like he had to behave because there were no women or children he could sexually assault…..

In a stunning display of either arrogance or stupidity, Paisnel tried to return to Jersey after his release, but the residents, needless to say, had other ideas and he was run off the island.

He lived out the remainder of his days on the Isle of Wight, where he died of a heart attack in 1991.

Although the official statistic sits at 13, many believe Paisnel to be guilty of many more crimes, particularly those uncovered in Operation Rectangle.

Operation Rectangle

In 2008, the former Children’s home “Haut de la Garenne” on the island of Jersey, hit the headlines worldwide after it was reported that police had discovered what they believed to be fragments of a human skull. They would go on to find 65 human teeth and in total 170 bone fragments.

But things were not entirely as they seemed.

The skull fragment turned out to be neither bone nor human. The teeth were concluded as being milk teeth that had been naturally shed and only three of the bone fragments were human and dated back to as far as 1450.

They may have not found evidence of murder but

It brought to light a catalogue of abuse — sexual, physical and psychological — at Haut de la Garenne and other Jersey children’s homes stretching back to the end of the second world war.

Paisnel has been posthumously linked to the abuse with a report stating that “there are numerous references to Paisnel visiting Haut de la Garenne both legitimately and under more sinister circumstances.”

Joan claims that he was a regular visitor at Haut de la Garenne, even dressing up as Father Christmas for the residents of the home. It has also been claimed that he was employed there at one time to undergo painting and decorating work.

Paisnel has also been accused of abusing children at La Préférence, a home that was founded by his mother in law, Florence Walden. It was also where he had met his wife, Joan, whilst working as a handyman and doing odd jobs and repair work.

The home, which was located in the St Martin Parish, closed down in 2012.

Witness 205 claimed that Paisnel told girls at the home to call him “Uncle Ted” and would sit them on his knee before abusing them.

Another witness claimed he would use chloroform on the children before removing them from their beds and that there was an evil atmosphere that radiated from the home.

However, “a police file states that there was ‘no firm evidence to hand in the investigation that Paisnel was responsible for any abuse that falls within the parameters of the investigation.”

Lulls

The Beasts activity was punctuated with several periods of inactivity.

July 1960- Feb 1961

April 1961-April 1963

Aug 1964-Aug 1966

Aug 1966-Aug 1970

These lulls helped to take the heat off. Police would have several questions to contend with. Was this the end? If so, why? Had he died? Had he been imprisoned on another charge? Had he moved away?

Does it also raise questions as to how he would maintain these lulls?

How could a serial rapist go from several attacks in months to nothing for four years?

Chances are, he did not. The links to the Children's homes probably explain away these lulls. He was not stalking the streets or committing home invasions during this time, he was preying on the residents of Jerseys Children's homes instead.

Tuula Hoeoek

On the 31st December 1966, the body of 20-year-old, Tuula Hoeoek was found at the entrance to a field in the parish of Saint Clement, on the island of Jersey.

Miss Hoeoek was last seen waiting at a bus stop in Georgetown, St Saviour on 30 December 1966.

It was around 8 pm and she was on her way to visit friends, it was raining heavily and police have theorised if this led to her accepting a lift-off of someone.

A lone woman waiting at a bus stop, her being found in a field…sound familiar?

Tuula had died as a result of severe head injuries which had been delivered with a blunt instrument.

The police investigation was extensive but the case has never been solved.

There was a cold case review in 2013 which revealed that Tuula was seemingly worried about something in the month leading to her murder.

She was working as a waitress in the Southampton Hotel, which she enjoyed when she suddenly quit. “A phone call at her lodgings” spooked her further