Buckingham Palace: Man sentenced for trespassing twice

Daniel Brydges' prison sentence was suspended for 18 months

A man who was "fixated" on accessing royal grounds has been handed a suspended prison sentence after trespassing at Buckingham Palace.

Daniel Brydges, 33, scaled two fences to gain access to the Palace gardens on 18 December 2021 and was also found "stooped" behind a Land Rover near The Royal Mews gate four days later.

He was also stopped under the Terrorism Act trying to enter the grounds on 11 December and twice on 15 November 2021.

The Queen was in Windsor at the time.

"He appears to have been fixated on the Palace grounds," prosecutor Sudara Weerasena told Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Brydges, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of trespassing on a protected site and criminal damage - after damaging a barbed wire fence during the first incident.

'Persistent and determined'

District Judge Annabel Pilling sentenced him to 12 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and said he must not go within 100m (330ft) of a royal residence.

The sentence includes mental health treatment and rehabilitation requirements, while Brydges must pay £748 in costs and other charges.

"It is worrying that it is still not clear what your motivation was," the district judge told him.

"This was a very serious security breach.

"There was a suggestion you were fixated somehow by the Palace or by members of the royal family. You were persistent and determined."

The late Queen was at Windsor Castle on both occasions when Brydges trespassed at Buckingham Palace.