Man jailed in UK's first treason case for 40 yearspublished at 16:48 British Summer Time 5 October 2023
Dulcie Lee
Live reporter
Jaswant Singh Chail has become the first person in the UK in over 40 years to be jailed for treason.
He was given nine years in prison, with a further five on licence, after being arrested with a loaded crossbow on the grounds of Windsor Castle on Christmas morning in 2021.
He told officers he wanted to kill Queen Elizabeth II.
Chail had scaled the walls of the castle using a nylon rope and spent about two hours on the grounds before being spotted by police.
This was a case with undeniably bizarre or obscure elements, including:
- Chail's relationship with an AI chatbot "girlfriend" called Sarai, who encouraged his royal assassination plans
- He had an obsession with Star Wars, believing himself to be a Sith Lord on a mission to kill the monarch
- He wore a sinister-looking homemade mask on the castle grounds - and when asked by a police officer with a Taser "can I help, mate", he replied he was "here to kill the Queen"
- Chail, who is of Sikh heritage, claimed to be looking for revenge over a massacre by British troops in India in 1919
Following his arrest, Chail was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and diagnosed as psychotic shortly afterwards.
As the judge weighed up the sentence, the extent to which his mental health issues influenced Chail's actions featured heavily.
But the judge concluded Chail had experienced homicidal thoughts that he acted upon before becoming psychotic - and therefore deserved a prison sentence.
In the end, he was given a hybrid order, which means Chail will remain at Broadmoor high-security hospital until he is well enough to serve his sentence in prison.
This page was written by Adam Durbin, Thomas Mackintosh and Marcus White. Thanks for joining us.