LONDON: A man appe­ared in court on Wednesday after allegedly entering Windsor Castle grounds armed with a crossbow, declaring he planned to kill Queen Elizabeth II.

The 20-year-old man, Jaswant Singh Chail, from Southampton in southern England, appeared at a London court, having been charged with treason earlier this month.

He appeared at Westm­inster Magistrates’ Court via video-link from Broa­dmoor high-security psychiatric hospital, confirming his name and location.

The prosecution told the court that Chail was held in the grounds of Windsor Castle, where the monarch was staying, early on Christmas Day last year.

Dressed in a hood and mask and carrying a loaded crossbow with the safety catch off, Chail came within line of sight of the Queen’s apartments, prosecutor Kathryn Selby said.

Chail allegedly told a protection officer: “I am here to kill the Queen.” The most serious charge he faces under the 180-year-old Treason Act is “intent... to injure the person of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, or to alarm her Majesty”.

In the last such case, Briton Marcus Sarjeant was jailed for five years in 1981 after pleading guilty to firing blank shots at the monarch when she was on parade.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2022