A man who told police he wanted to kill the Queen of England has been charged with treason in the first case in decades to address the crime.
Jaswant Sing Chail, 21, was arrested at Windsor Castle Christmas 2021 when he was trying to scale the walls while carrying a crossbow. When the police questioned him, he told them: “I am here to kill the queen.”
Chail has now pleaded guilty to one charge under the UK Treason Act, which makes it an offense to “injure the person of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, or alarm Her Majesty”, along with charges of threatening of death and possessing an offensive item. weapon.
He appeared at London’s Central Criminal Court via video link from Broadmoor, a secure mental hospital where he remains in custody.
Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8, of advanced age. She was 96.
(Photo from Tim Graham Image Library/Getty Images)
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Police testified that Chail wanted revenge on the monarchy for his treatment of India and sent a video to a group of contacts “stating his desire to harm the late queen”. Elizabeth passed away in September 2022.
This undated photo released by the Crown Prosecution Service on Friday February 3, 2023 shows a crossbow that 21-year-old Jaswant Singh Chail was carrying when he was arrested, after being caught in the grounds of Windsor Castle. Chail pleaded guilty to treason on Friday for planning to attack Queen Elizabeth II.
(Crown Prosecution Service via AP)
In the video posted to Snapchat just before trying to enter the castle, he said: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry for what I did and what I will do. I will try to assassinate Elizabeth, the Queen of the Royal Family,” the BBC reported.
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“This is revenge for those who died in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre,” he continued. “It is also revenge for those who have been killed, humiliated and discriminated against because of their race.”
This undated photo released by the Crown Prosecution Service on Friday February 3, 2023 shows a mask Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, was wearing when he was arrested, after being caught in the grounds of Windsor Castle with a crossbow. loaded. Chail pleaded guilty to treason on Friday for planning to attack Queen Elizabeth II.
(Crown Prosecution Service via AP)
The massacre, which occurred when British troops opened fire on thousands in the city of Amritsar after people gathered in protests against the Rowlatt Act. The death toll is disputed, but ranges from hundreds to over 1,000.
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Chail may have also tried to approach the royal family by applying to join the Ministry of Defense Police and Grenadier Guards, according to the BBC.
A photograph taken on August 17, 2022 shows the entrance to Westminster Magistrates Court, in London, before the start of Jaswant Singh Chail’s hearing, following his arrest while armed with a crossbow at Windsor Castle while the Queen Elizabeth II spent Christmas Day there. Police charged the 20-year-old man with an offense under Britain’s Treason Act 1842 after the arrest. Chail, from Southampton, in southern England, has also been charged with threatening to kill and possessing an offensive weapon following the incident at the castle, south-west London, last year.
(Photo by Carlos Jasso/AFP via Getty Images)
The head of the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command, Richard Smith, stressed that this was “an extremely serious incident”. He praised the officers patrolling the castle grounds for their “tremendous bravery” who apprehended Chail “without harm to anyone”.
Treason used to carry a death penalty, but amendments made in 1998 through the Crime and Disorder Act changed the maximum sentence to life imprisonment. The last hanging for high treason occurred in 1946 for William Joyce, a Nazi propaganda broadcaster from World War II.
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Charges under the Treason Act remain rare, with the last known trial in 1981 when Marcus Sarjeant was accused of firing blank shots at the Queen while she was riding a horse in the Trooping the Color parade in London. He was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
