Daniel Brydges covers his face as he leaves Westminster Magistrates’ Court (James Manning/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)A man who trespassed at Buckingham Palace while gripped with a “fixation” on the Royal family has been handed a 12-week suspended prison sentence.
Daniel George Robert Brydges, 33, scaled two fences to get into the Palace gardens on December 18, and claimed he was homeless and looking for somewhere to sleep when challenged.
Days later, on December 22 last year, Brydges entered the grounds close to the Royal Mews again – and claimed he had “dropped a bottle” when stopped by security.
At Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday, Brydges was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, with an order to enter rehab and have mental health treatment for 18 months.
Judge Annabel Pilling told him: “These were determined attempts - it’s worrying its still unclear what was your motivation.
“This was a very serious security breach, there’s a suggestion that you were fixated somehow on the Palace or members of the Royal Family. You were persistent and you were deternined.”
Prosecutor Sudara Weerasena said Brydges scaled two fences in Buckingham Palace grounds just after 5pm on December 18.
“He climbed over The Royal Mews fence on Buckingham Palace Road. He then scaled a second fence and, while doing so, he caused criminal damage to the barbed wire on the fence.”
Ms Weerasena said security officers spotted Brydges on CCTV, and police officers tracked him down and arrested him.
Brydges was freed on bail with a condition that he did not return to Palace grounds, but he was caught again on December 22 at 1.06pm.
Ms Weerasena said Brydges was found “stooped behind a Land Rover” by a security officer, and after an attempt to flee he was arrested again.
The court heard Brydges had made two earlier attempts to access Buckingham Palace in 2021, but did not face criminal charges over those incidents.
Defending, Rajesh Bhamm said Brydges had been suffering a “psychotic episode” at the time of the offences.
Brydges, of Laburnum Grove, Portsmouth, pleaded guilty to two charges of trespassing on a protected site and one count of criminal damage.
