Pascal Payet
FranceBiography of Pascal Payet
Pascal Payet, a French criminal who became famous for his daring prison escapes, was born in 1963 in Montpellier, France. He spent his childhood in Lyon and later settled in Marseille.
In 1988, Payet began his criminal history when he was convicted of aggravated assault. In 1993, he came to the attention of the police again, this time accused of conspiracy. On November 20, 1997, he participated in an attack on the Banque de France in Salon-de-Provence, during which a person was killed. Payet was arrested in Paris in January 1999, along with his accomplice Eric Alboreo. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
On October 12, 2001, Payet carried out his first escape from the prison in Luynes, where he and Frederic Impocco managed to hijack a helicopter. However, Impocco was captured on October 18 and brought for questioning in Paris, while Payet was later found and returned to Luynes.
Not discouraged by his first escape, Payet made another successful escape on April 14, 2003, this time fleeing on a helicopter with three heavily armed inmate friends, one of whom was Alboreo. After three weeks, they were all found and sent back to prison. In 2005, Payet was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a murder committed in 1997.
In December of the same year, Payet wrote an open letter in his blog, criticizing the conditions of his imprisonment, and later went on a hunger strike. In 2007, he received an additional 7 years for his 2003 escape. During the summer of that year, he was classified as an extremely dangerous criminal, indicating that he would not stay in any prison for more than six months. However, no precautions could prevent his next escape.
On July 14, 2007, taking advantage of the French national holiday, Bastille Day, Payet escaped with the help of four masked individuals who hijacked a helicopter from Cannes-Mandelieu Airport. Half an hour later, the stolen helicopter landed on the roof of the prison in Grasse, where Payet was held. The pilot was taken hostage but later released when the helicopter delivered Payet and his accomplices to Brignoles, a coastal town northeast of Toulon. Interestingly, the helicopter pilot later confessed that the criminals did not commit any acts of violence against him; he simply had to comply with their orders. However, Payet was apprehended again on September 21, 2007, in Mataro, a northern suburb of Barcelona, Spain. In October, he was back in France, along with two accomplices.
This time, Payet was kept in a secret location for security reasons. On June 25, 2008, he received a 15-year prison sentence without parole for a series of armed robberies and attacks on police officers during his escape attempts. In 2011, an additional 5 years were added to his sentence for the 2007 escape.
Many today speculate on how long Payet will remain in prison before his next escape. There is no doubt that it will involve a helicopter. However, he is currently kept under special conditions. It is known that Payet has a wife and two children.
