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A man has admitted trying to harm the Queen after being caught in the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow.

Jaswant Singh Chail told police he was “here to kill the Queen” after breaking into the grounds on Christmas Day 2021.

Today he pleaded guilty to charges under section two of the Treason Act 1842, along with possession of an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.

The 21-year-old, from Southampton, was wearing a mask at the time and the Queen was in residence.

He came within sight of the late monarch’s private apartments when he was stopped by a police officer.

The officer said he looked like “something out of a vigilante movie”.

Pic: Maureen McLean/Shutterstock
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Jaswant Singh Chail had entered the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow for his planned regicide. Pic: Maureen McLean/Shutterstock

Credit Gardham/CPS
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The crossbow was loaded with a bolt at the scene. Pic: Gardham/CPS

Chail, a former supermarket worker, had uploaded a video to TikTok half an hour before his stunt, saying he was taking revenge for the Amritsar massacre of 1919 in India.

He had a fringe and neatly trimmed beard as he appeared by video link in court from a room at Broadmoor secure mental hospital, wearing a black jacket with fake fur collar, black t-shirt.

He spoke only to enter his pleas, leaning forward to speak into the microphone.

A previous hearing was told that shortly after 8.10am on 25 December 2021, an officer was on duty at the gate which serves as the main vehicle and foot access into the private part of the castle.

The Queen was in her private apartments at the time and the gate “allowed immediate access to the apartments. It is never open to the public,” Kathryn Selby, prosecuting, said.

‘Morning, can I help mate?’

The officer saw Chail walking slowly through the private grounds towards him and began to approach him.

As he did so, the officer realised that Chail had his hood over his head and was wearing a mask which the officer described as “like something out of a vigilante movie or dressed for Halloween.”

The officer unclipped his Taser before saying, “Morning, can I help mate?”

Chail told him: “I am here to kill the Queen.”

Realising that the man was holding a crossbow, the officer drew his Taser and shouted for him to drop the weapon and get to his knees.

Chail immediately complied, placing his hands on the top of his head when told to do so, before repeating “I am here to kill the Queen.”

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The weapon was loaded with a crossbow bolt with the safety catch off and ready to fire.

Prosecutors revealed that crossbow bolts, a metal file and other items were later found in a hotel room, where Chail had stayed the previous night.

The crossbow was said to be comparable to a powerful air rifle and had the potential to cause serious or fatal injury.

The video in which Chail claimed responsibility had been recorded four days earlier and sent to Chail’s contacts list about 10 minutes before his arrest, prosecutors said.

‘Please don’t remove my clothes’

During a search, a handwritten note was found that read: “Please don’t remove my clothes, shoes and gloves, masks etc, don’t want post mortem, don’t want embalming, thank you and I’m sorry.”

He was 19 at the time of the attempted attack and a British citizen, born in Winchester, without any previous convictions, cautions or traces on the police national computer.

Nick Price, head of the Special Crime and Counter-Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Chail had been intercepted by armed officers in what was a “rare” incident.

The case was investigated by Scotland Yard’s Counter-Terrorism Command.

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Counter-Terrorism Command, said after the plea hearing: “This was an extremely serious incident, but one which the patrolling officers who apprehended Chail managed with great composure and professionalism.

“They showed tremendous bravery to confront a masked man who was armed with a loaded crossbow, and then detain him without anyone coming to harm.”

Reason for delay to treason case

Chail was detained under the Mental Health Act before being sectioned and transferred to Broadmoor secure mental health unit in February.

Alison Morgan KC, prosecuting, said that a report produced in November indicated he was now fit to enter pleas, after it noted a significant improvement in his health.

Reporting restrictions on the details of the case were lifted after Chail pleaded guilty to attempting to injure or alarm the sovereign, contrary to section two of the Treason Act 1842.

The case was adjourned for further psychiatric reports and he will be sentenced on 31 March.

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‘I think you’re looking for us’: Video shows moment Sara Sharif’s family detained on plane

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'I think you're looking for us': Video shows moment Sara Sharif's family detained on plane

Footage of the moment 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s alleged killers were detained after police boarded their plane back to the UK has been played in court.

As they are approached by officers, Sara‘s stepmother Beinash Batool is heard saying: “I think you’re looking for us.”

Batool, 30, Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse against her culminating in her death at her family home in Surrey on 8 August last year.

The defendants, along with five of Sara’s siblings, aged between one and 13, flew to Pakistan the following day.

Sara’s body was found by police in a bunkbed on 10 August after Sharif called police from Pakistan to say he had beaten her “too much” for being “naughty”.

A murder investigation was launched involving agencies including Interpol and the National Crime Agency to locate the defendants.

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They returned to the UK on a flight from Dubai to Gatwick Airport on 13 September.

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‘I beat her up too much’

The clips of officers’ body-worn video shown to the jury on Friday captured the moment police boarded the plane and detained the defendants at 7.42pm, seven minutes after touchdown.

After Batool addresses the officers, Sharif, who had been sitting next to her, is asked to follow them.

The three were then taken off the plane and arrested.

Sara Sharif. Pic: Surrey Police
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Pic: Surrey Police

A post-mortem examination established Sara had sustained extensive and significant injuries over a sustained period prior to her death.

The jury heard on Friday how concerns were raised by Sara’s school about bruising on her body in June 2022 and March 2023.

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Several items seized from Sara’s home were also reviewed by the court, including a leather belt which had full DNA samples at both ends for Sara, Sharif, and Malik.

A cricket bat was also found to have Sara’s DNA profile on it, along with the DNA samples of Sharif and Malik.

Neither item had a DNA trace of Batool.

The court also reviewed the defendants’ bank accounts – both joint and separate.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.

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Girl, 13, ‘critical’ after being found stabbed next to A63 in Hessle – as six teenagers arrested

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Girl, 13, 'critical' after being found stabbed next to A63 in Hessle - as six teenagers arrested

Six teenagers have been arrested after a 13-year-old girl was found with multiple stab wounds on a roadside near Hull.

Police said she was found around 6.50am on the A63 in Hessle with “life-threatening injuries” including “lacerations to her neck, abdomen, chest and back”.

Four boys and two girls – aged between 14 and 17 – were quickly arrested in a nearby wooded area and are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.

Members of the public came to the girl’s aid before emergency services arrived, Humberside Police said.

Detective Superintendent Simon Vickers said they “believe the attackers knew the victim” and the circumstances are still being investigated.

“The girl remains in hospital in critical condition and her family are being supported by officers at this difficult time,” he added.

The boys arrested are aged 14, 15, 16 and 17, and the girls 14 and 15.

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Cordons are in place around a wooded area off Ferriby High Road while investigations continue.

Police said they would have an increased presence in the area over the weekend and have asked anyone with information or video to get in touch, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.

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Ex-soldier Daniel Khalife tells court it was a ‘foolish idea’ to have someone with his ‘skillset’ in prison

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Ex-soldier Daniel Khalife tells court it was a 'foolish idea' to have someone with his 'skillset' in prison

A former soldier has told a jury his escape from Wandsworth prison to avoid being held with sex offenders and terrorists showed his “skillset”.

Daniel Khalife, 23, who was being held accused of passing secrets to Iran said he was “never a real spy” but planned a fake defection to the state following his arrest after watching American television show Homeland.

He said he wanted to be moved to a high-security unit because he was getting unwanted attention from the sex offenders on the vulnerable prisoners wing and feared a move to Belmarsh prison because, as a British soldier, terrorists wanted to kill him.

Khalife said he first wanted to “make a show” of escaping, acting suspiciously and covering himself in soot from a food delivery lorry on 21 August last year, while he was working in the prison kitchen.

He was spotted and reported to security but was “pretty shocked” when nothing happened so decided to take the “full measure,” he told the jury.

Undated handout photo of sling under the truck used in the prison escape of Daniel Khalife, which was shown to a jury at the Old Bailey, London, during his trial. Khalife, 23, is alleged to have fled his Army barracks in January 2023 when he realised he would face criminal charges over allegations he passed classified information on to the Middle Eastern country's intelligence service. Later, while on remand, he is alleged to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023 by tying himself to the underside of a food delivery truck using bedsheets. Issue date: Wednesday October 23, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story COURTS Army. Photo credit should read: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire ..NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
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A makeshift sling. Pic: Met Police

Talking about his escape for the first time at his Woolwich Crown Court trial, Khalife told how he fashioned a makeshift sling from kitchen trousers and carabiners used by inmates to keep their possessions safe from rats.

He attached it to the Bidfood lorry on 1 September last year, to see if it would be spotted by officers at Wandsworth or other prisons on the delivery route.

“I put the two carabiners and the makeshift rope underneath the lorry,” he said.

“When I had made the decision to actually leave the prison I was going to do it properly so I tested the security not just in Wandsworth

“Strangely, over the coming days, I could see it but it wasn’t spotted in Wandsworth or any other prison.”

Then on the morning of 6 September, Khalife said he concealed himself underneath the lorry, resting his back on the sling as the lorry was searched.

“They did normal checks around with torches but they didn’t find me. After that, a governor came to the tunnel and said, ‘Have you searched the vehicle?’

“I was facing upwards. There was action around the lorry.”

Daniel Khalife
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Daniel Khalife joined the Army aged 16

He said that when the vehicle stopped he “came out underneath the lorry and stayed in the prone position” until the lorry moved off.

Khalife, who joined the Army aged 16 and took up a post with the Royal Signals, based in Beacons barracks, Staffordshire, said he made no attempt to leave the country and had no intention to “run away” from the charges he was facing.

He was arrested three days later on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal in Northolt, west London, after a nationwide manhunt.

Asked why he had not handed himself in after his escape, Khalife said: “I was finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison. What use was that to anyone?”

“I accept that I left the prison and didn’t have any permission to do so,” he said. “I accept absolutely that I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

Daniel Abed Khalife
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Daniel Khalife

Inspired by Homeland

The court has heard Khalife initiated contact with Iranian intelligence officers after he was told he could not pass developed vetting because his mother was born in Iran.

Khalife told MI5 he wanted to be a “double agent” and he said in court he thought he would be “congratulated” but described his arrest as like a “punch in the face”.

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Wearing a blue checked shirt and chinos, he said police were “blinded at the prospect of a successful prosecution” but he did not think being in prison would be in “the public interest”.

“I didn’t do anything that harmed our national security. I wanted to put myself in a position where I could help my country,” he said.

“I believed I could continue my work actually located in the state – the state being Iran.”

Khalife said he took inspiration from watching Homeland, starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, in which Americans and terrorists go undercover, on Netflix.

“I had seen one of the characters in the programme had actually falsely defected to a particular country and utilised that position to further the national security interests of that character’s country,” he said.

“The country in question, Iran, thought it was real. She did it to further the interests of her own country.”

Khalife told jurors he is a “patriot”, adding: “I do love my country. All I wanted to do was help. I never wanted to do any harm, I never did do any harm.”

He added: “It is tragic it has come to this and I would do anything to go back to my career.”

Khalife, from Kingston, southwest London, denies a charge of committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state under the Official Secrets Act between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.

He has also pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Terrorism Act of eliciting information about Armed Forces personnel on 2 August 2021, perpetrating a bomb hoax on or before 2 January 2023 and escaping from prison on 6 September last year.

The trial continues.

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