Windsor Castle intruder gets nine years' custody for plot to kill the Queen

A former supermarket worker who plotted to assassinate the late Queen Elizabeth II was sentenced to nine years in custody - but was told he will remain in hospital until he is deemed fit enough to go to prison.

Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, scaled the perimeter of the Windsor Castle grounds with a nylon rope ladder on Christmas Day 2021 armed with a loaded crossbow while wearing a metal Star Wars-inspired mask.

He wandered the castle grounds with the weapon for two hours before he was stopped near the late monarch's private residence - where she and other family members were at the time - telling a police officer: "I am here to kill the Queen."

Chail had described himself as a "Sith" and "Darth Chailus" in a sinister video and confided his plan to murder the monarch to an artificial intelligence-generated "girlfriend", who had responded to him.

He had previously unsuccessfully applied for positions within the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), the British Army, the Royal Marines, the Royal Navy, and the Grenadier Guards in a bid to get close to the Royal Family.

Chail, who is of Indian Sikh heritage, formed a plan to assassinate the then Queen to avenge the Amritsar massacre of 1919, which was carried out by soldiers commanded by British colonial forces.

He was encouraged by a female artificial intelligence chatbot called "Sarai", which he created on an application called Replika, exchanging more than 6,000 messages with it.

He pleaded guilty to attempting to injure or alarm the Queen under the Treason Act, as well as possession of an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.

Sentencing judge Mr Justice Hilliard heard evidence from three psychiatrists to help him decide whether Chail - who has been held at Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital - should be jailed or handed a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.

He sentenced Chail to nine years with a further five years on extended licence.

Under the hybrid order, Chail will be transferred from Broadmoor psychiatric hospital to serve his sentence in prison when he is well enough.

Passing sentence at the Old Bailey in central London, the judge said: "The defendant harboured homicidal thoughts which he acted on before he became psychotic," the judge said.

"His intention was not just to harm or alarm the sovereign - but to kill her."

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