A British man, Jaswant Singh Chail, has been sentenced to nine years in jail for plotting to assassinate the Queen at Windsor Castle. Chail, 21, was arrested in 2021 within the grounds of the royal residence, where the Queen was staying during the pandemic. He had broken into the castle with a loaded crossbow and had scaled the castle’s perimeter using a nylon rope ladder.
Wearing black clothes and a metal mask, Chail informed a police protection officer that he was there to kill the Queen before being apprehended. In February, Chail pleaded guilty to three charges, including treason and possession of an offensive weapon, at London’s Old Bailey court. The sentencing judge, Justice Hilliard, stated that Chail had harbored homicidal thoughts and intended not just to harm or alarm the sovereign, but to kill her.
Chail has been sentenced under a “hybrid order” under the Mental Health Act, which means he will serve his term at Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital until he is deemed well enough to be transferred to prison. He is the first person in the UK to be convicted of treason in over 40 years.
During the court proceedings, it was revealed that Chail was a fan of “Star Wars” and referred to himself as a “Sith” in a video he sent to approximately 20 people after breaching the castle grounds. He claimed that his AI chatbot “girlfriend” had pushed him to break into the castle. Chail also wrote in a journal that if the Queen was “unobtainable,” he would “have to go for” Prince Charles.
Chail expressed his distress and sadness in a letter to the court, apologizing to the royal family for the incident. His barrister, Nadia Chbat, stated that he was embarrassed and ashamed of bringing such worrying times to their doorstep. Chail emphasized his relief that no one was physically harmed.
