A man who is alleged to have been caught at Windsor Castle with a crossbow said he was there to "kill the Queen", a court was told on Thursday.
Jaswant Singh Chail, 20, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court this morning charged under Britain's Treason Act. He was arrested while allegedly wearing a hood and a mask and carrying a crossbow on the grounds of Windsor Castle on Christmas Day last year.
A police officer said he looked like someone from a vigilante movie, the Mirror reports.
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Chail had said "I am here to kill the Queen", the court was told. The hearing was also told Chail wanted revenge on the establishment.
The Queen was at Windsor Castle at the time with her son Prince Charles and Camilla and other close family members.
Chail, from Southampton, has also been charged with threats to kill under section 16 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and possession of an offensive weapon under section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953. This section details punishment for "discharging or aiming fire-arms, or throwing or using any offensive matter or weapon, with intent to injure or alarm her Majesty".
He appeared by video-link from Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire on Wednesday charged with an offence under Section 2 of the Treason Act, possession of an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.
Chail, wearing a dark jacket over a black top, sat at a table with his arms folded during the hearing, speaking to confirm his name, date of birth and current address at Broadmoor.
The most serious charge under the Treason Act states 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".
A separate charge alleges Chail made "a threat intending that the other would fear that it would be carried out to kill a third person, namely Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second". A third charge states he had "an offensive weapon, namely a loaded crossbow" in a public place.
Chail was not asked to enter pleas to any of the charges and Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring remanded him in custody ahead of his next appearance at the Old Bailey on September 14. The court heard Chail had previously applied to join the Ministry of Defence Police and the Grenadier Guards, in a bid to get close to the Royal Family.
Prosecutors allege he sought revenge against the establishment for the treatment of Indians, and had sent a video to some 20 people claiming he was going to attempt to assassinate the Queen. Chail, who was unemployed at the time but previously worked for a branch of the Co-op supermarket, was allegedly spotted in the grounds of Windsor Castle at about 8.10am on Christmas Day.
The Supersonic X-Bow weapon he is said to have been carrying had the potential to cause "serious or fatal injuries", said prosecutor Kathryn Selby. She said the allegations were not being treated as a "terrorism offence" but had been dealt with by the Counter-Terrorism Division
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