A 21-year-old man admitted on Friday that he wanted to “injure or harm” Elizabeth II by breaking in with a crossbow on Christmas Day 2021 at Windsor Castle, where he had arrested. Prosecuted under the “Treason Act”, Jaswant Singh Chail pleaded guilty during a hearing in London to having, on December 25, 2021, “deliberately produced or possessed a loaded crossbow with the intention of using it to injure the person of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, or to injure Her Majesty”.
The young man also pleaded guilty to “death threat” and “illegal possession of a weapon”. Since he pleaded guilty, a trial will not be necessary. The judge announced that he would hand down his sentence on March 31.
“I’m here to kill the queen”
Jaswant Singh Chail was arrested on December 25, 2021 with a crossbow near the apartments of the sovereign, 95 years old at the time. He is said to have declared during his arrest, shortly after entering the perimeter of the castle: “I am here to kill the queen”. According to prosecutors, he would have shortly before sent a video to around twenty people claiming that he was going to try to assassinate Elizabeth II.
Since 1842, section 2 of the “Treason Act” punishes attempts to “injure or harm Her Majesty” but recourse to the text is extremely rare. The most famous case dates back to 1981 when Marcus Sarjaent was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to firing five blank shots at Elizabeth II during a parade.