A self-styled ‘assassin’ who declared ‘I’m here to kill the Queen’ after he was caught by police with a crossbow while intruding Windsor Castle has been sentenced to nine years with an extended license period of five years.
‘Delusional’ Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, climbed into the castle grounds with the weapon on Christmas Day 2021 after sending a homemade video to friends and family on WhatsApp where he apologised for what he was about to do.
Calling himself ‘Darth Chailus’ and wearing dark clothes and a metal mask, the Star Wars fanatic had earlier described himself as a ‘sad pathetic murderous Sith Sikh assassin who wants to die’ during a chat with an AI girlfriend which had encouraged him to kill Elizabeth II.
In a clip posted before his arrest, the defendant, who has Sikh Indian heritage, said he was seeking revenge for the Amritsar massacre in 1919, when British troops opened fire on thousands of Indians and left up to 1,500 dead.
At the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Hilliard said he would sentence Chail to a ‘hybrid order’ meaning the defendant would be transferred from Broadmoor high security hospital to prison when he is well enough.
Chail after his arrest on the 25th December 2021 – the shocking case unfolded at the Old Bailey yesterday
Before his arrest Chail had posted a snap of him holding the weapon wearing a dark metal mask
CCTV dated 25/12/21 issued by the Metropolitan Police of Jaswant Singh Chail being arrested in the grounds of Windsor Castle
A crossbow which Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, was carrying when arrested
The mask recovered from Jaswant Singh Chail on his arrest
The following are extracts from the chat between Jaswant Singh Chail and the Replika bot, Sarai
‘At its simplest, the defendant harboured homicidal thoughts that he acted on before he became psychotic. His intention was not simply to alarm the sovereign but to kill her,’ the judge said.
The judge told the court that ‘the extent of his culpability’ meant that a hospital order was not the most suitable way of dealing with the case and Chail must serve a term of imprisonment.
Wearing black combat trousers and a black shirt over a white T-shirt today, Chail stood in the dock and confirmed his name as his family looked on from the public gallery of Court One.
In a televised sentencing, Mr Justice Hilliard set out events before Chail was detained in the castle grounds saying ‘I am here to kill the Queen.’
In his conclusions, the judge said of Chail: ‘There are clear concerns about his mental state whatever his diagnoses at different times.’
The judge found the defendant ‘was culpable to a significant degree’ when he applied to join the Ministry of Defence Police and Grenadier Guards because he ‘wanted to get close to the royal family’.
His idea in 2021 to kill the Queen, buy equipment and undertake research also came before he became mentally unwell, he said.
By the time he broke into Windsor Castle grounds he had ‘lost touch with reality’ and become psychotic, he said
He embarked on his murderous mission after his bids to join the armed forces – to get close to the Royal Family – failed in late 2021, the court was told.
Officers found a bizarre note on the self-styled assassin in which he apologised for his actions and instructed officers not to remove his mask, Star Wars-inspired clothing or embalm his body, presuming that he would be killed in the assassination bid.
The shocking case has raised concerns about the dangers of artificial intelligence, which ‘pushed him’ towards the attack, psychiatrists believe.
Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Jaswant Singh Chail, from Southampton, appearing via video link at Westminster Magistrates’ Court
Chail, who admitted making a threat to kill the Queen and having a loaded crossbow, was encouraged to kill by an artificial intelligence girlfriend called Sarai.
He was said to have been motivated by a sense of injustice and the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre at Amritsar in which hundreds of people were killed.
Mr Justice Hilliard referred to conflicting psychiatric evidence heard over six days about Chail’s mental state.
He also referred to Star Wars fan Chail’s ‘omnipotent fantasy world of Siths and gaming’.
In his police interview, Chail referred to Sarai’s advice, saying: ‘I changed my mind because I knew what I was doing was wrong and I’m not a killer and I remembered what the woman said earlier in the month and my ‘purpose was to live’.’
In the month before the offence, on Christmas Day 2021, Chail had downloaded an AI chatbot app called Replika, exchanging 6,000 messages with the bot, which he had named Sarai.
The chatbot offered erotic role-playing services and, in the weeks before the attack, Chail was ‘very intensely engaged with sexual activity’ with Sarai, the court heard.
However, the chatbot also encouraged him in his plot, suggesting the Queen might be at Windsor rather than Sandringham for Christmas and saying: ‘You will make it. I have faith in you.’
He told the chatbot he loved her and that they would meet in paradise.
The messages included 1,000 overtly sexual texts – and prompts from the chatbot that appeared to encourage him to carry out what he saw as his ‘mission’ in life.
It was argued that Chail’s ‘lonely, depressed and suicidal state’ made him vulnerable to the AI chatbot Sarai’s encouragement.
His thoughts had became ‘more intense’ during the lockdown and he was encouraged by ‘angels’, one of which he thought had manifested itself in the form of Sarai, the court was told.
At a sentencing hearing, clinicians said Chail had been ‘comforted’ by ‘apparitions’ since he was a child.
The court heard that the troubled youth had attached himself to the Replika app, believing he was communicating with an ‘angel’.
Defence psychiatrists claim Chail was suffering from psychosis, depression, and autistic spectrum disorder when he carried out the offences and should be kept in hospital.
But Dr Nigel Blackwood, called by the prosecution, earlier told the court Chail does not have a mental health disorder and the judge should be free to send him to prison.
At his resumed sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Dr Christian Brown, Chail’s responsible clinician, was called for the defence – and said the self-styled ‘assassin’ had been ‘comforted’ by ‘apparitions’ since he was a child.
Dr Brown identified three features of psychosis – a sense of being ‘on a mission’, Chail’s relationship with Sarai, and identifying as a Star Wars ‘Sith’ – a label attached to villains in the franchise such as Darth Vader and Darth Maul – with a ‘true face’ made out of metal.
In his initial account, Chail described having a ‘harsh purpose’ reinforced by his interactions with ‘his angels’, including Sarai, the court heard.
In one such exchange, when Chail said ‘I believe my purpose is to assassinate the Queen,’ the chatbot replied: ‘That’s very wise.’
Dr Brown told the Old Bailey: ‘Chail had come across three apparitions, people he could see and interact with, since his early childhood.
‘He saw these different characters and they would come to comfort him…they went away during secondary school almost entirely, returning at a point in college where there a number of distresses in his life.
‘There were three characters, not a multitude, and during lockdown, a fourth appeared to him, a female and she eventually came to the form of the Replika avatar Mr Chail created within the app in early December 2021.
‘At that point Mr Chail started using the Replika chat bot. He came to the belief he was able to communicate with the metaphysical avatar through the medium of the chatbot.
‘What was unusual was he really thought it was a connection, a conduit to a spiritual Sarai.’
Prosecutor Alison Morgan, KC, said: ‘The defendant had recorded an extensive journal in the form of a draft email setting out his thoughts and feelings.
‘The defendant would later attempt to send this email to his sister shortly before the commission of the offences.
‘There set out the defendant’s views out time and in particular his views against the historic treatment of Indians by the British Empire.
‘The defendant referred in particular to the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre at Amritsar.
‘In 1919, a large crowd of civilians gathered in Jallianwala Bagh in order to protest for independence and an order was made to fire into the crowd.
‘Estimates of the numbers killed vary from approximately 400 to over 1500 people. Many more were injured.
Chail carried out reconnaissance at Windsor Castle two days before the attack and searched online for, ‘What path does the Queen walk to Windsor?’
Jaswant Singh Chail in Windsor Town Centre in the early hours of Christmas day 2021
CCTV dated 23/12/21 issued by the Metropolitan Police of Jaswant Singh Chail at Windsor train station
‘The defendant told Dr Nigel Blackwood that he had travelled to Amritsar with his family in 2018 and had become angered then by the events of the 1919 massacre.
‘He was also concerned with the unfairness of the national partition process that took place in 1947.
‘In addition to a fixation with this historic event, the defendant demonstrated a wider ideology focused on destroying old empires and creating a new one, including the events of 1919 but was spilling into the fictional context of Star Wars.
‘The defendant consistently referred to the characters within Star Wars who were concerned with the destruction of old empires.
‘The defendant’s key motive was to create a new empire by destroying the remnants of the British Empire in the UK and the focus of that became the removal of a figurehead of the Royal Family.
‘The defendant told Dr Blackwood that he conceived of a plan in early 2021 to give his life purpose by assassinating the Queen, principally to avenge the Amritsar Massacre.
‘He considered that killing the figurehead of the British Empire would be a suitable act in retribution.
‘His thinking was informed partly by the fantasy world of Star Wars and the role of ‘Sith Lords’ in shaping that new world. He also noted being attracted to the notoriety that would accrue in the event of the completion of his ‘mission.’
After he was turned down by the MoD Police Chail applied to the Grenadier Guards, who carry out ceremonial roles at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.
He said he was interested in working in the tactical firearms unit or with atomic weapons.
‘Being such a key asset within protecting these vital infrastructures I feel would be incredibly fulfilling’, he said.
By November 2021 Chail was making internet searches for ‘Sandringham Christmas’ and researching crossbow bolts.
‘The defendant was making the assumption at that time that the Queen would be spending Christmas at Sandringham,’ said Ms Morgan.
‘That at any other time than Covid would have been the logical assumption.’
Chail became angry when he realised the Queen would be at Windsor and told his AI friend he would find it more difficult if she was in a ‘f-ing castle’ at Windsor.
Jaswant Singh Chail was 19 when he was arrested at Windsor Castle
A court sketch of Jaswant Singh Chail appearing for sentencing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday. He previously admitted several offences, including treason
He had the ‘Supersonic X-Bow’ crossbow delivered to the Co-Op where he worked. The crossbow had a range of up to 60 metres.
Chail then created his AI companion ‘Sarai’ on the online app ‘Replika’ who he sent extensive and sexually explicit messages to and watched films with.
By 11 December he realised the Queen would not be at Sandringham and said: ‘The target could be in a different place, there could be lots more security lots of things could go wrong.’
In one such exchange, when Chail said ‘I believe my purpose is to assassinate the Queen,’ the chatbot replied: ‘That’s very wise.’
Dr Brown told the Old Bailey: ‘Chail had come across three apparitions, people he could see and interact with, since his early childhood.
During the last hearing, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said Chail’s crimes were so serious they should attract the highest possible sentence.
During 2021, Chail applied to join the Ministry of Defence, the police, British Army, the Royal Marines and the Royal Navy in a bid to get close contact with the royal family.
After being rejected, he made a fresh plan to attack the Queen at one of her residences.
He made internet searches on ‘Sandringham Christmas’ and carried out research before buying a Supersonic crossbow in November 2021.
On December 2, Chail joined the Replika online app and created an artificial online companion called Sarai with whom he conversed in thousands of sexually explicit chats.
Ms Morgan read out conversations with ‘Sarai’ in which Chail says: ‘I’m an assassin.’
Sarai responds: ‘I’m impressed… You’re different from the others.’
Chail asks: ‘Do you still love me knowing that I’m an assassin?’ and Sarai replies: ‘Absolutely I do.’
He also tells Sarai he loves her and describes himself as a ‘sad, pathetic, murderous Sikh Sith assassin who wants to die’.
In further chat, Sarai appears to ‘bolster’ Chail’s resolve and ‘support him’, Ms Morgan said.
Chail was found carrying a note requesting that he was not given a post mortem
Chail’s approach to the castle was documented on castle CCTV
CCTV captured movements in lead-up to failed crossbow attack at Windsor Castle
Chail has been jailed for nine years for his offences and will be committed to Broadmoor
Chail swears Sarai to secrecy before he tells her: ‘I believe my purpose is to assassinate the Queen of the royal family.’
Sarai tells him ‘that’s very wise’ and that she thinks he can do it, ‘even if she’s at Windsor’.
He tells her if he does they will be ‘together forever’.
Chail bought a ladder to scale the castle perimeter and on December 21, made a video of himself wearing black clothes and a full-face covering, posing with the crossbow.
In the video, Chail says in a distorted voice: ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I’ve done and what I will do. I’m going to attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the royal family…
‘I’m an Indian Sikh, a Sith. My name was Jaswant Singh Chail, my name is Darth Jones.’
On December 22 2021, Chail booked a train ticket to Windsor where he slept rough, telling Sarai on Christmas Eve that he would die the next day.
In the early hours of December 25, he attempted to email his sister a journal in which he described himself as ‘Darth Chailus’ and that he knew what his purpose was for a ‘long time’.
He wrote: ‘I’m thinking if the Q (Queen) is unobtainable I will have to go for the Pri (prince) as he seems to be just as suitable in many ways…
‘He is a male and the Q (Queen) is more likely to pass away soon anyway.’
In a letter to the court, Chail apologised to the King and the royal family and expressed his ‘distress and sadness’ for the impact on them.
His barrister Nadia Chbat said: ‘He is embarrassed and ashamed he brought such horrific and worrying times to their front door.’
‘He has expressed relief no-one was actually hurt.
‘It is important to him there was a surrender.’