Jaswant Singh Chail, 20, from Southampton, southern England, was arrested on December 25 while carrying a crossbow in the castle grounds in west London, where the 96-year-old monarch mainly resides, prosecutors said. Following an investigation by counter-terrorism police, he was charged with threats to kill, possession of an offensive weapon and an offense under section 2 of the Treason Act 1842. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register This section describes the punishment for “discharging or aiming firearms, or throwing or using any offensive material or weapon, with intent to injure or alarm her Majesty”. Chail will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on August 17. “The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr Chail are active and he is entitled to a fair trial,” said Nick Price, Head of the CPS’s Crime and Counter-Terrorism Branch. The Queen was at the castle at the time of the incident along with her son and Crown Prince Charles, his wife Camilla and other close family members. Police said Chail had not broken into any building. Security breaches at royal residences are rare. The most serious of the Queen’s reign occurred in 1982, when an intruder scaled a wall to enter Buckingham Palace, her London home, and made his way to her bedroom. In 2003, self-proclaimed “comedy terrorist” Aaron Barschak evaded security at Windsor wearing a pink dress and an Osama bin Laden-style beard to his eldest son Charles’ 21st birthday party , Prince William, second in line. for the throne. The last person to be convicted under the more serious medieval Treason Act of 1351 was William Joyce, a Nazi German propagandist nicknamed Lord Haw Haw, who broadcast in Britain during World War II and was hanged in 1946. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Michael Holden. edited by David Milliken and Tomasz Janowski Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
