Man admits trying to harm Queen after being caught in grounds of Windsor Castle with a crossbow

A man has admitted a charge under the Treason Act of 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.

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”.

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.

A previous hearing was told that shortly after 8.10am on Christmas Day, 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.”