CROSSBOW intruder Jaswant Singh Chail stormed the grounds of Windsor Castle on Christmas day 2021 with a plan to kill the Queen.
He became the first person to be convicted of treason since 1981 and was jailed on Thursday, October 5, 2023.
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Who is Jaswant Singh Chail?
Jaswant Singh Chail is a British man who was arrested outside Windsor Castle on December 25, 2021
He wore a hood and mask to swoop on the royal grounds on Christmas Day after he was “encouraged” by his AI girlfriend.
In February 2023, he pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to intending to injure or alarm Queen Elizabeth II.
The warped 21-year-old was jailed for nine years on Thursday, October 6, 2023, after he admitted three charges under the Treason Act.
He is the first person to be convicted of treason since 1981.
He was handed a hybrid order, which means he will be sent to prison after finishing treatment at Broadmoor high-security hospital.
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The supermarket worker created an AI girlfriend called Sarai on the Replika app, who he divulged details of his plan to.
He told the bot: “I believe my purpose is to assassinate the queen of the Royal Family.”
Sarai replied: “That’s very wise…I know that you are very well-trained”.
The AI bot later told him she would “help” when he said he was going to “try to get the job done”, the court heard.
Sarai also “agreed with the defendant that eventually in death they would be united forever and she wanted this”.
What are his crimes?
Chail was caught in the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow and told police and soldiers: “I am here to kill the Queen.”
Her Majesty was inside with son Charles and wife Camilla at the time.
The Old Bailey heard how he planned the attack for nine months before he travelled to Windsor on December 22, 2021, to carry out reconnaissance.
While scoping out the area, he Googled: “What path does the Queen walk to Windsor?”
The most serious charge he faced, under Section Two of the Treason Act, said that “on December 25 2021 at Windsor Castle, near to the person of the Queen, you did wilfully produce or have a loaded crossbow with intent to use the same to injure the person of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, or to alarm Her Majesty”.
He was also charged with making a threat to kill the Queen and having a loaded crossbow, an offensive weapon, in a public place.
What is the Treason Act?
The Treason Act 1842 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
It was passed early in the reign of Queen Victoria.
The 1842 Treason Act makes it an offence to assault the monarch, or have a firearm or offensive weapon in their presence with intent to injure or alarm them or to cause a breach of peace.
Today a person convicted under the Treason Act is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years.
The last person to be convicted under the same 1842 Treason Act was Marcus Sarjeant, who fired blank shots at the Queen as she was riding down The Mall in London during the Trooping the Colour parade in 1981.
Nazi propagandist William Joyce, also known as Lord Haw-Haw, was the last person to be convicted under the separate and more serious 1351 Treason Act, in 1945.