Windsor Castle crossbow intruder planned to kill guards

Jaswant Singh Chail after his arrest on the 25 December 2021

A crossbow-armed man who entered Windsor Castle grounds on Christmas Day "to kill" the late Queen had also planned to kill guards, a court heard.

Jaswant Singh Chail was arrested in Windsor on 25 December 2021.

He pleaded guilty to treason, making threats to kill and possessing an offensive weapon.

The 21-year-old's sentencing hearing heard the Hampshire man had planned to kill guards at the castle "on route to the Queen" but later changed his mind.

"I've decided that I probably won't kill any guards. This will make it harder but this is what I decided," he wrote in his journal, the court was told.

"This is different from my original plan when I was much younger," he added.

CCTV shows Jaswant Singh Chail at Windsor Train Station on 23 December 2021

The Old Bailey heard again how Chail - who is from North Baddesley, near Southampton - wanted to kill the Queen as "revenge " for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which took place when British troops opened fire on thousands of people who had gathered in the city of Amritsar in India.

The court also previously heard Chail was socially isolated, had a "significant history of trauma", and endured psychotic episodes and depression.

The former supermarket worker had also exchanged 5,000 sexually charged messages with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot before arriving at Windsor Castle.

The hearing continues.

Queen Elizabeth II was living at Windsor due to the pandemic