The Terrifying Beast of Jersey
By: Josie Klakström
Tags: Rape, Monsters, Victims, Guilty, Jersey

In August 1970 the Beast returned. A 14-year-old boy awoke from his sleep in his Vallee Des Vaux home, to a torch shining in his face. He was attacked as the others were but this time, when he was being led back to his house, the masked man spoke to him; he told the boy to stay quiet, “because if you don’t someone will harm your mother and father”.

When the boy’s parents found him, he was dishevelled and upset but wouldn’t speak of what had happened to him. Eventually, he told them and was taken to hospital, where an examination showed that he too had the scratches down his torso, that had covered the girl four years earlier. The boy told police that the man had spiky black hair and was wearing a frightening mask.

Capture

On the 10th of July 1970, two officers were cruising around the island on their regular night patrol. It was almost midnight when they stopped at a red light in the St. Helier district when a Morris car ran the stoplight. The officers chased the driver, who was trying desperately to get away from them. He drove on the wrong side of the road and up embankments and onto footpaths but eventually crashed into a hedge and finally stopped in a tomato field.

When he got out of the car he began to run, as did the officers chasing him. He was eventually tackled to the ground and arrested.

On the ride to the police headquarters, officers noticed a musty smell coming from the man, and when they were finally under the bright strip lighting of the station, they saw the appearance of the man for the first time.

The nails in the coat via dailymirror.co.uk

He was wearing a long dark coat with inch-long nails and screws sticking out of the collar, cuffs and shoulders. These were what made the marks on the young girl and boy. When they emptied the man’s pockets, they found a black torch with tape covering the majority of the glass, so only a pinprick of light would shine through. There were two pieces of cord, used for tying up his victims, a wool cap, and duct tape.

They also found a black spiky wig and the mask he had been using to terrorise his victims with.

The Beast of Jersey’s mask via historydaily.com

Edward Paisnel

Born in 1925, 46-year-old Edward Paisnel was a family man, with a wife and children. He worked in construction and came from a wealthy family. He didn’t have a criminal record but was imprisoned for a month during World War II by German officers, when he stole food for starving families. He played Santa Claus at the children’s foster home that his wife worked at, and the kids called him ‘Uncle Ted’.

Edward Paisnel via The Dark in Your Room

But Edward Paisnel had another side to him, which included a low sex drive and at least one mistress. However, his wife never suspected anything, and their marriage appeared to be normal.

Edward Paisnel and family via dailymirror.co.uk

When questioned about the outfit he was wearing and why he was speeding, he told investigators that he was going to an orgy and he didn’t want to be recognised. As for the nails, he said that he added those in case he was attacked by someone who knew martial arts. He refused to talk about the mask and the wig, which had been worn that night, judging by the marks on his face.

The Paisnel’s residence via dailymirror.co.uk

Paisnel was remanded in custody and officers were sent to search his home. Once in the house, they found a locked secret room inside his bedroom. It smelled of must and they found old clothing and homemade wigs complete with matching false eyebrows.

They discovered a camera and photographs of houses across the island. Investigators believed that he had been planning his attacks for years and had many more lined up. When they asked Paisnel about the photographs, he told them he chose his victims years in advance of the crimes. He knew specific details about the families and their home and knew which windows to climb into on the night of the assaults.

They also found his shrine to Satan, which included an altar, a sword and a large collection of books about black magic and the occult.

The trial

Paisnel at trial via historydaily.org

On the 29th of November 1971, it took a jury 38 minutes to find him guilty of 13 counts of rape, indecent assault and sodomy against six of his victims. He was sentenced to 30 years in Winchester prison in the UK, but was released in 1991 after 20 years served for good behaviour.

He tried to move back to Jersey but due to the reign of terror he held for so many years, he wasn’t welcome, and instead, he moved to the Isle of Wight. He died three years later from a heart attack in 1994.