British family's dream that became a nightmare: Podcast reveals how Playboy model and her husband who bought a remote Nicaraguan island to 'live in paradise' became cursed by affairs, kidnap and death

A British family who bought a private island near Nicaragua and ended up in a battle to reclaim it from local indigenous people which ended in kidnapping and death.

The story of Jayne Gaskin, a former Playboy Bunny Girl and croupier, her partner and Jayne's children, Damien 13, James 11 and Cherry nine, who she shares with ex-husband Phil Gaskin, captivated the nation in 2002 when they featured in Channel 4 documentary No Going Back. 

Viewers watched Jayne, her kids and her new partner also called Phil, attempt to leave behind their ordinary life in Britain for the 9.5-acre Lime Clay island on the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua, which they purchased for £170,000 in 2000 - only to find it was at the centre of a centuries-old land dispute.

Maria Acosta, a local human rights lawyer, launched a legal battle to reclaim the island for Nicaragua's indigenous population, but the story evolved into more than just a courtroom drama – ending in disaster, with the family kidnapped at gunpoint and Phil dying from an asthma attack.  

Now, the jaw-dropping story of the family from Hampshire is told in The Price of Paradise, a new true crime podcast by Wondery and Forest Sounds.

A British family who bought a private island near Nicaragua and ended up in a battle to reclaim it from local indigenous people which ended in kidnapping and death (pictured Jayne, her kids and her partner Phil) 

When Jayne and her partner Phil bought the island, they were confident that the sale was legal. The keys were sold to a private person by the government 100 years earlier. 

Once living on the island the blended family quickly clashed with locals, who claimed it was a sacred space that was only to be passed down through generations and the local community launched a campaign to reclaim their home.

At one point, a camera crew followed the couple into a tense meeting at a town hall with the mayor, where they tried to convince him that their arrival would help relieve the island's desperate poverty. 

'This is hope,' Phil said. 'This is the future. This is like Belize 25 years ago. They had nothing and then, everything.'

The mayor said: 'The properties of the people — the indigenous people — cannot be loaned, cannot be given. We will not give up our fight.'

Environmentalists accused the family of destroying natural habitats for local birds during their renovations, and locals arrived on the island to protest once courts determined the Gaskins were within their right to own the property. 

The shocking story of Hampshire-based mother Jayne Gaskin, (pictured) her partner Phil and her three children who trade their village home for a tropical paradise is told in a new true crime podcast by Wondery and Forest Sounds The Price of Paradise

The story of Jayne, a former Playboy Bunny Girl and croupier, her partner and her children, Damien 13, James 11 and Cherry nine, captivated the nation in 2002 when they featured in Channel 4 documentary No Going Back

Once living on the island the couple quickly clashed with locals, who claimed it was a sacred space that was only to be passed down through generations (pictured Jayne, her three children and her partner Phil)

Phil accused the protesters of being 'racist' against whites, while Jayne added: 'I'm not just going to walk away, I want the island. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. That's what it would be. All-out war.'

While Phil and the three children pined for their old life in England, Jayne was determined to make the move work, despite the tension. 

Phil said: 'It's all very pretty. But it's still not my idea of paradise. It's growing on me. But there's no going back because Jayne's not leaving this island.' 

The couple's plan was to make the island into a tourist attraction and Phil got to work on building six cabanas, each housing up to four people. 

The first structure he decided to build was a bar and restaurant in a shady spot on the beach. 

A few days into the hard labour Phil and Jayne hired Teodoro, a construction worker, from the mainland to help with the building work.

Before leaving England, Phil set aside around £50,000 for building the resort, wages, materials, fuel and food, however costs started spiralling out of control. 

Phil said: 'Is a lot more expensive living here than I thought it was going to be. I've got about 90 weeks to make this work at present rates of expenditure.'

A few days into the hard labour Phil and Jayne hired Teodoro, (pictured) a construction worker, from the mainland to help with the building work

Jayne's ex-husband Phil Gaskin from Poole, Dorset, visited the tropical island of Lime Clay in Nicaragua where his estranged wife had taken their children to live

After Teodoro started slacking on his duties he was swiftly fired, only to return a few days later to beg for his job back.

However after a heated discussion with Jayne it appeared the two were actually having an affair which ended when he slept with the family's cook. 

Speaking to Teodoro on the show Jayne said: 'I don't know how much English you understand. You mess around with me, next thing you mess with the cook. 

'I don't want someone like that on my island. You no like me anymore.' 

Teodoro responded saying: 'You have husband and these children, you know.'

Before leaving the island Teodoro declared: 'This is my country. One day she gone and I stay in my country. You will see.'

It all came to a head one night when five masked men burst into their home and demanded $1 million in return for their lives. 

They were kidnapped, bundled onto a motorboat and taken out to sea, but eventually they managed to escape after Phil fought back, setting the motorboat ablaze and hiding in an alligator-infested swamp overnight.  

Speaking on the Channel 4 documentary, Phil said: 'Lots of commotion outside the hut and the next thing I know somebody said, Mr. Philip, you better do what you're told. There was a gun pointing at me telling me get down on the floor.'

Phil recognised the leader of the kidnappers, it was his wife's former lover Teodoro. 

He said: 'First of all, I recognised his voice, and the children also recognised his voice.'

Jayne's ex-husband visited the island to see his children and had a sweet moment with his daughter Cherry, then nine

The family built and lived in a small wooden hut on the edge of the water on the island near Nicaragua

Planning the escape Phil managed to light the boat on fire with a gas canister and a match, allowing the family to flee. 

'All I could hear was bang, bang. I didn't look back I was running for my life at that point,' he recalled. 'The men came after us, there were two men and they had got me down in a corner, they found me.

'I could see a gun. They were waving the gun at me and he was pulling the trigger but there were no bullets left.' Jayne added: 'I tried to get up and one of them hit me twice in the face.'

Phil continued: 'We went right back into the bush, through some swamp. We waded through right up to our knees, then we hide in the swamp behind a tree.'

Jayne said: 'We stayed completely silent all night because I knew Teodora enjoyed hunting in the bush. He used to talk about hunting tigers at night. I knew he enjoyed killing.

'He used to talk about how he killed people before and how he enjoyed to drink men's blood. Stories he used to tell. So we knew that it was a killer.' 

Viewers watched the couple attempt to leave behind their ordinary life in Britain and establish a diving school on the remote tropical island, which they purchased for £170,000 in 2000 (pictured Jayne Gaskin)

Phil eventually flagged down a passing fishing boat which took the family to safety and they reported their ordeal to the local police, who eventually found the kidnappers after a week of searching. 

Despite all the torment they had been through, Jayne insisted the family should return to the island. 

Phil said: 'This is my jail cell, the sea is my bars, and I'm permanently tormented, yet the only way I can escape this island is in my dreams.'

Phil's health started to deteriorate as a result, and he developed a respiratory infection while hiding out from the kidnappers.

After a bout of severe asthma attacks the family decided to leave the island with Phil to be closer to a hospital, four weeks later he sadly passed away. 

Jayne and her children are believed to have since sold the island and returned to London, according to a 2014 BuzzFeed article. 

The synopsis for the podcast, which is hosted by Alice Levine, reads: 'When ex-Bunny girl Jayne Gaskin spots the desert island of her dreams for sale online, she decides to risk it all. 

'Trading in their English village home, Jayne and her family relocate to their own private paradise, just off the coast of Nicaragua. And a reality TV crew follows them to film a new show, 

'But soon they all discover that paradise has its secrets. The locals claim the island belongs to them, and it’s been sold illegally. Jayne’s not leaving without a fight. A fight that will soon turn deadly.'   

The Price of Paradise launches on 22 April on Wondery+, Amazon Music and everywhere you get your podcasts.