Why one man spent 15 years in ‘self-imposed’ island exile

Born on Jersey in the Channel Islands (part of the British Crown Dependency), Alphonse Le Gastelois (1914-2012) moved to the small, only seasonally inhabited Écréhous island chain roughly six miles away in 1961, after being wrongly suspected of a series of heinous sexual assaults. Relocating for his own safety and peace of mind, he remained there, living mostly in isolation, until 1975, even after he was proven innocent when the string of attacks continued in his absence and the real culprit was finally caught in 1971. First broadcast in 1978, this clip from the BBC series Nationwide: Remote Britain tells Le Gastelois’s incredible story of ‘self-imposed exile’, including his formal attempt to become ‘King of the Écréhous’ – a request that would ultimately go unfulfilled in law, if not in legend. Depicting the power of unfounded rumour and gossip to derail a life, his story is one that echoes with amplified intensity in the internet age.