A man who plotted to kill the Queen with a crossbow believed his life’s purpose was “to do something dramatic to the Royal Family” from an early age, a court has heard.
Former supermarket worker Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, scaled the perimeter of the Windsor Castle grounds with a nylon rope ladder on Christmas Day 2021.
Armed with a loaded crossbow, he told a police officer “I am here to kill the Queen” when stopped some two hours later near herprivate residence, where she and other members of the Royal Family were at the time.
Image: CCTV still of Chail being arrested in the grounds of Windsor Castle on 25 December 2021. Pic: Met Police
Chail has pleaded guilty to attempting to “injure or alarm” the late monarch under section two of the Treason Act 1842, as well as possession of an offensive weapon and making threats to kill on Christmas Day 2021.
The sentencing judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, could send him to prison or make a hospital order under the Mental Health Act after hearing evidence from doctors.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Christian Brown, Chail’s responsible clinician at high-security Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, where he has been held since November last year, said his patient’s sense of “purpose” was an indication of psychosis.
“At the time he believed his entire life had led to this point. He believed from an early age he had at least vague plans to do something dramatic to the Royal Family,” he said.
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“As to the reality as to whether these plans started when he was four or five, seven or eight, or at the point of his military applications is clearly for the court to come to a view on.”
Prosecutors say Chail formed a plan at the start of the year to assassinate the Queen to avenge the Amritsar massacre of 1919 in India. He was also said to be obsessed with Star Wars and called himself the “Sith” and “Darth Chailus” in reference to the sci-fi franchise.
Winchester-born Chail applied for positions within the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), the British Army, the Royal Marines, the Royal Navy, and the Grenadier Guards in a bid to get close to the Royal Family, the court has heard.
Chail was said to have been encouraged by an artificial intelligence chatbot called “Sarai” he set up on an app named Replika.
Dr Brown said “clearly he knew he was interacting with a chatbot” but said Chail “really thought it was a conduit to some sort of spiritual entity” – one of several “angels” he communicated with during stressful periods of his life since childhood.
“He thought he had a special connection through that to this spiritual entity Sarai,” he said, adding that Chail believed he would be reunited with her in the afterlife.
He also said another feature of Chail’s psychosis was his identification as a “Sith Lord”, which included having a mask made at a local metal forge, although he did not think he could “use the force”.
Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Image: Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
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There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out forming coalitions at a local level with Reform after the council elections next week.
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Conservative leader did however categorically rule out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party on a national level.
“I am not going into any coalition with Nigel Farage… read my lips,” she said.
However, she did not deny that deals could be struck with Reform at a local level, arguing that some councils might be under no overall control and in that case, “you have to do what is right for your local area”.
“You look at the moment, we are in coalition with Liberal Democrats, with independents,” she said. “We’ve been in coalition with Labour before at local government level.
“They [councillors] have to look at who the people are that they’re going into coalition with and see how they can deliver for local people.”
She added: “What I don’t want to hear is talks of stitch-ups or people planning things before the results are out. They have to do what is right for their communities.”
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A total of 23 councils are up for grabs when voters go to the polls on Thursday 1 May – mostly in places that were once deemed Tory shires, until last year’s general election.
It includes 14 county councils, all but two of which have been Conservative-controlled, as well as eight unitary authorities, all but one of which are Tory.
Ms Badenoch has set expectations low for the Tories, suggesting they could lose all the councils they are contesting.
The last time this set of councils were up for election was in 2021, when the Conservative Party was led by Boris Johnson who was riding high from the COVID vaccine bounce.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Image: Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Image: Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.