Infamous Visitors

Let’s drop a few scary names

As a survival mechanism, fear can help us avoid dangerous situations or prepare us for hostile confrontations, but being scared all the time isn’t healthy.{a}

Lots of famous people visited St Helena. Some of them were not all that nice, or turned out to be so. We record them here. The nicer ones are on our page Famous Visitors{1}.

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.{b}

Did ‘Jack the Ripper’ visit St Helena?

This story is summarised from an article on 7 News, Australia, published 7th November 2019{2}. We’re not entirely convinced by the evidence, but whatever!

One of the greatest murder mysteries in history is the identity of the serial killer, ‘Jack the Ripper’, who in 1888 murdered and dismembered several women in the dark lanes of Whitechapel, near to the London docks. The killer has never been formally identified, possibly because he (she?) was a well-connected person in Victorian England, and so able to evade punishment. Many theories exist about his identity and one candidate was Frederick Bailey Deeming.

Deeming

Frederick Deeming was born on 30th July 1853 in Leicestershire, UK, and at 12 was apprenticed as a plumber. He became obsessed with knives, building a small collection and also making them for sale. By 18 he was bragging that he had …killed a man. It was partly an accident, but it changed my life. Later that year he ‘found’ a woman, Min Cooper, dead on the front doorstep of his home. Police investigated him for her murder but could not make a case. Not long after, he ran away to sea and ended up in Australia, where he assumed the alias Albert Williams. In his time there he became associated with several more murders, many of which included mutilations. With police and creditors at his heels, he and his family - which now included two children - left for London in 1887.

He would therefore have been in London when the ‘Whitechapel Murders’ were committed, and the way the victims were mutilated struck chords with some of the crimes he was suspected of committing in Australia.

He was never charged with being ‘Jack the Ripper’, though he was arrested in Montevideo in 1889, charged with fraud and brought back to England to serve two years in jail. He returned to Australia where he murdered his entire family, a crime for which he was convicted and hanged on 23rd May 1892.

And the St Helena connection?

In his 1887 flight from Australia to London his ship stopped at St Helena, where he was forcibly disembarked for attempting to swindle his fellow passengers. We do not know how long he spent here. It seems he found a ship that took him to South Africa, and thence back to the UK.

As far as we know, and remarkably for him, during his spell on the island he didn’t actually murder anybody…

Sergio Villatoro Bran

Primum non nocere (‘first, do no harm’){c}

The following was retrieved from www.sainthelena.gov.sh/‌st-helena-welcomes-resident-orthopaedic-surgeon on 29th June 2026, but may no longer be there, for reasons that will be become apparent…

St Helena has recently welcomed to the Health Directorate, Resident Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr. Sergio Villatoro. Dr. Sergio is no stranger to the Island, having been here twice previously to carry out orthopaedic surgeries. His last visits to the Island were in 2015 when he performed a total of 572 consultations (139 infiltrations, 66 Surgeries, 21 Emergencies).

This is the first time that a resident Orthopaedic Surgeon has been appointed for St Helena, but with the rising number of orthopaedic related cases on the Island it was necessary to introduce a resident post as opposed to an annual visit.

As an Orthopaedic Surgeon and also a Joint Surgeon, Dr. Sergio, is responsible for preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitative aspects which affect the musculoskeletal system in any age group of patients - both traumatic injuries and congenital injuries or acquired non-traumatic injuries.

Dr. Sergio is on trauma call 24/7, sees around 16 patients daily, and performs up to four surgeries a week, but there is still a long waiting list for surgeries.

Dr. Sergio said:

It is very important to have an Orthopaedic Surgeon on St Helena as I am able to treat patients now rather than have them wait a long time to be sent to South Africa for necessary procedures.

The most common surgery performed on St Helena is Arthroscopic Surgery - used to treat joint problems and which allow a faster recovery for patients with lower risks of a surgical intervention. The most common pathology found was Knee Osteoarthrosis (OA) in men and women.

Dr. Sergio explains:

Osteoarthrosis is a chronic and degenerative disease, characterised by gradual loss of the joint cartilage. It is one of the most common joint disorders, and it is the most common cause of pain and disability in adults, and the first cause of joint replacement surgeries.

Other pathologies common on the Island are knee meniscus tear, sub-acromial impingement, shoulder pain and lower back pain. The age of patients with OA ranges from 46-84 years. The prevalence of obesity is high for the population and patients with OA should maintain a healthy weight range, as being overweight accelerates the process of the disease.

Dr. Sergio is hoping to soon start performing Viscosupplementation - an injection of Hyaluronic acid in the joint - which in many cases delays the need for joint replacements.

With the redevelopment of the Hospital the facilities for orthopaedic surgery have also improved and there is now a complete orthopaedic theatre table with all the accessories for patients needing this type of surgery. Surgeries are easier and fewer patients will need to be sent to South Africa. In the future Dr. Sergio will also be able to carry out knee and hip replacements on the Island.

Dr. Sergio comes from Guatemala where he studied medicine and did his residency in trauma. He completed his fellowship in joint surgery and sport trauma in Florida, United States. He has settled into Island life and has added a touch of St Helena history to his office with a selection of beautifully framed old photos of the Island.

He concluded:

It is a great opportunity for me to be able to provide and keep providing this service to the population of St Helena. I have been able to restore the quality of life for some patients and I am honoured to be able to get to know the Island more and the hospitality of its people, while sharing my experience with the hospital staff.

Government of St Helena, 30th August 2016

Unfortunately, Sergio’s time on the island did not turn out as well as this press release promised. The story is rather long and involved, and in 2026 was the subject of a seven-episode podcast The Surgeon of St Helena{3}. It is not reproduced here for Copyright reasons, but to summarise{4}:

Concerns were raised regarding surgical treatment carried out by Dr. Sergio Villatoro Bran during his time working as a surgeon on St Helena between 2016 and 2021. These concerns related to orthopaedic and general surgical procedures performed on patients, some of which were performed without consent, some of which were unnecessary and many of which were performed negligently. A significant number of his patients have suffered serious and long term injuries as a result.

We are also aware that allegations of sexual assault were made against Dr. Bran however, he was not formally charged over these.

Police investigations into his activity on island later led to criminal proceedings, and ultimately Dr. Bran pleaded guilty to five charges of unlawful wounding in May of 2023.

Concerns have also been raised by some patients regarding treatment provided by another surgeon who practised on island at around the same time - Dr. Carlos Soto, many of whom believe they have received negligent treatment from him.

Our team is currently acting for approximately 145 Saints who have potential clinical negligence claims arising from the treatment they received.

It is not known why the Police only selected five cases to prosecute, including none of the sexual assault charges.

Dr. Sergio may still be practicing in Guatemala. When we wrote this article we did a Google™ search on Dr. Sergio Villatoro Bran and were offered many results advertising his practice which appeared to be current, although a repeated search in October 2026 came up with only links to the podcast above or articles about it.

Sergio’s Legacy

Sergio’s legacy on the island was very far reaching. In particular, the involvement of Hugh James (Solicitors), a UK professional law firm, raised an issue about costs. If Hugh James won the cases for their clients, the defendant (the Government of St Helena) would be required to pay not only the awarded compensation, but also Hugh James’s fees (at UK legal rates). With more than 100 cases, it was feared that this might be unaffordable by the Government of St Helena, and requests that the FCDO foot the bill (they had, after all, appointed Dr. Sergio) were rejected. Fearing bankruptcy, the Government of the time produced legislation that would limit the fees that could be charged by anyone taking cases on St Helena, at a level that would not inhibit the Public Solicitor but well below what a UK Firm would need to charge. This legislation, the Civil Litigation (Costs) Ordinance, 2025, was rushed through by the island’s Ministers (without any consultation or other due process) in the final days of the 2021-25 government and put immediately into law by Governor Nigel Phillips. However, as the Equality & Human Rights Commission and others quickly pointed out, restricting Saints’s ability to seek justice was contrary to Our Constitution, and the Equality & Human Rights Commission instigated a Judicial Review to challenge the legitimacy of the Ordinance. With a change of Government after the 2025 General Election, the new Ministers quickly repealed the Ordinance and replaced it with one that complied with Our Constitution, allowing Saints to again seek justice from UK law firms at sensible rates. It remains unclear, however, how the costs will be funded if the Government of St Helena loses in Court.

Spies

During much of the island’s early history England/Britain was intermittently at war with other European nations, and because of its strategic military importance there were inevitably spies sent here to map out the island’s defences and establish how they might be circumvented. Here are two we know about:

Below: Paul Gasherie, 1734 Louis-Francois-Gregoire Lafitte de Brassier, 1781

Paul Gasherie, 1734

Paul Gasherie came here in 1734 claiming to hold the rank of Colonel and to have expertise in military defences, but it transpired, both wasn’t and hadn’t{5}. He was actually a French Spy. Read all about himⒾ{d}.

Louis-Francois-Gregoire Lafitte de Brassier, 1781

Lafitte, as he is known, made a pretty-good map of the island in 1781, but it was not for printing and distribution…

England and France were continually at war with each other at the time, and in 1781 they were engaged in the 1778-1783 Anglo-French War (about support for America), so there is no way the island authorities would have aided an enemy in mapping their defences. And yet, although Lafitte was French, he clearly had access to St Helena enough to draw quite a detailed map of the island. This must therefore be a covertly-drawn spy map. The accompanying text in French goes into great detail about the island’s defences. Download the full mapⒾ.

Ian Bruce and the editor of this website have written an article about Lafitte and his maps, published in ‘Wirebird’, the magazine of Friends of St Helena{6} #48, August 2019, which explores more about his history and how the maps came to be made. You can read an extended version of the articleⒾ, with additional information.

In 2021 Edward Baldwin donated much of his personal collection of St Helena items to the Museum of St Helena, including his Lafitte Map - the copy-from-memory made by Lafitte after his original was confiscated. It is now on display at the Museum of St Helena.

Pirates

Two are mentioned in the Records:

It is also possible that Ruperts got its name from a Pirate by the name of Prince Rupert who is claimed to have operated from there in the 17th Century. For more details see our page Ruperts.

As far as we know Emperor Palpatine never actually visited St Helena, but you never know…