Queen death threat foiled as alleged crossbow-wielding attacker charged with treason offences
A man who allegedly stormed Windsor Castle with a medieval weapon has been charged with threatening to kill the Monarch.
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A 20-year-old man who allegedly stormed Windsor Castle carrying a crossbow has been charged with treason offences, the UK’s Metropolitan Police said.
Jaswant Singh Chail was charged under Britain’s 1842 Treason Act on Tuesday local time after allegedly being arrested on the grounds of Windsor Castle on Christmas morning last year.
Queen Elizabeth II was spending Christmas Day at the castle when officers were called to a security breach at about 8.30am that morning.
Mr Chail remains in custody and has been charged with threats to kill and possession of an offensive weapon.
He will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on August 17.
Mr Chail was originally sectioned under the Mental Health Act after he allegedly breached the castle just 500-metres from the Queen’s private apartments.
Video allegedly filmed by Mr Chail and sent to friends on Snapchat showed a masked figure holding a black crossbow vowing revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, when British colonial troops shot and killed 379 protesters and wounded about 1200.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I’ve done and what I will do. I will attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, queen of the royal family,” the hooded figure in the video, obtained by The Sun, said.
“It is also revenge for those who have been killed, humiliated and discriminated on because of their race.”
“I’m an Indian Sikh, a Sith. My name was Jaswant Singh Chail, my name is Darth Jones,” the person added, invoking Star Wars movie mythology.
The video was sent 24-minutes before Mr Chail was arrested by armed police. At the time, the Queen was understood to be celebrating Christmas with family before recording her Christmas Day message that paid tribute to her recently-deceased late husband, Prince Philip.
Nick Price, Head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said they authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Mr Chail “following an investigation carried out by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command”.
“Mr Chail, 20, has been charged with making threats to kill, possession of an offensive weapon, and an offence under the 1842 Treason Act.
It is the first time in more than 40 years that someone has been charged under the Treason Act, which makes it an offence to assault the Queen, or have a firearm or offensive weapon in her presence with intent to injure or alarm her or to cause a breach of peace.
The last time it was used in 1981, Marcus Sarjeant was sentenced to five years prison after pleading guilty to firing blank shots at the Queen while she was riding down The Mall in London during the Trooping the Colour parade.
After the 2021 arrest of Mr Chail, from Southampton in southern England, the Met said he was detained for mental health treatment.
They added that security was triggered within moments and the individual did not enter any buildings.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr Chail are active and that he has the right to a fair trial,” Mr Price said.
While the Queen usually celebrates Christmas at her Sandringham estate in eastern England, she remained at Windsor Castle with Prince Charles and Camilla last year during a surge of Covid-19.
The breach on Christmas Day 2021 is almost as close as the famous 1982 intrusion when a man in his 30s enter the Queen’s private chambers at Buckingham Palace. Two other men were also arrested for scaling the castle gates of the palace in 2020 and again in summer 2021.
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