Close X
Sunday, November 10, 2024
ADVT 
International

British Sikh gets 9 years in jail for plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth II

Darpan News Desk, 06 Oct, 2023 12:24 PM
  • British Sikh gets 9 years in jail for plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth II

London, Oct 6 (IANS) A crossbow-wielding British Sikh who had threatened to "assassinate the Queen in revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre" in 2021, has been sentenced to nine years in prison by a UK court.

Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, had admitted to treason charges in February this year for scaling the Windsor Castle walls and telling royal guards on Christmas Day 2021 that he was there to kill the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Chail, who identified himself as an "Indian Sikh" in a social media video that emerged soon after the incident, reportedly suffered from mental health issues and was partly inspired to attack the Queen inspired by the Star Wars films.

A London court heard that Chail fantasised about killing the late monarch since adolescence, and had shared this information with an artificial intelligence-powered "girlfriend" he named Sarai.

Justice Nicholas Hilliard said despite conflicting diagnoses from different experts, he concluded that Chail lost touch with reality and had become psychotic, but that the seriousness of the crimes required him to serve prison time, ABC News reported.

According to the report, Chail will first return to a psychiatric facility where he has been receiving treatment, and if deemed to be well enough in the future, he will serve the rest of his sentence in prison.

“The defendant harbored homicidal thoughts which he acted on before he became psychotic," Hilliard was quoted as saying by ABC News.

“His intention was not just to harm or alarm the sovereign — but to kill her.”

Chail had also written in a journal that if the Queen was "unobtainable" he would "go for" the prince as a "suitable figurehead", in an apparent reference to King Charles III.

He had scaled the perimeter of the grounds with a nylon rope ladder, some two hours before his arrest.

He was wearing a hood and mask and was carrying a crossbow loaded with a bolt, with the safety catch off and ready to fire.

The prosecution told the court that the Supersonic X-Bow weapon he was carrying had the potential to cause "serious or fatal injuries".

The Queen was in her private apartments at Windsor Castle at the time of the intrusion.

MORE International ARTICLES

UK PM Johnson wins confidence vote

UK PM Johnson wins confidence vote
The confidence vote follows "anger" over senior civil servant Sue Gray's report detailing lockdown "rule-breaking" in Downing Street. As Johnson survived the confidence vote, he will now stay in his job as Prime Minister.

UK PM Johnson wins confidence vote

UK: 73 new monkeypox cases, biggest outbreak outside Africa

UK: 73 new monkeypox cases, biggest outbreak outside Africa
On Sunday, the World Health Organization said more than two dozen countries that haven’t previously identified monkeypox cases reported 780 cases, a more than 200% jump in cases since late May. No monkeypox deaths outside of Africa have yet been identified.

UK: 73 new monkeypox cases, biggest outbreak outside Africa

WHO warns of further transmission of monkeypox over summer

WHO warns of further transmission of monkeypox over summer
The WHO European office is concerned that the recent lifting of pandemic restrictions on international travel and events could act as a catalyst for rapid transmission, Xinhua news agency reported.

WHO warns of further transmission of monkeypox over summer

Tulsa police: 3 killed in shooting at a medical building

Tulsa police: 3 killed in shooting at a medical building
Three people were killed Wednesday in a shooting at a Tulsa medical building on a hospital campus, a police captain said. Capt. Richard Meulenberg confirmed the number of dead. Meulenberg said the shooter also was dead.

Tulsa police: 3 killed in shooting at a medical building

Indian origin British police officer could sue UK govt

Indian origin British police officer could sue UK govt
Matthew Rycroft, the senior-most civil servant at the Home Office, reportedly informed him that he and another officer who had been short-listed for the job that they would not be selected. He is not known to have spelled out a reason for the decision.

Indian origin British police officer could sue UK govt

All passengers including four Indians confirmed dead in Nepal plane crash

All passengers including four Indians confirmed dead in Nepal plane crash
Soon after the aircraft went out of contact, the Nepal Army deployed its personnel in the Lete area for search. The plane was carrying 13 Nepalese, four Indians, and two Germans.

All passengers including four Indians confirmed dead in Nepal plane crash