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Windsor Castle breach reminds of Buckingham Palace intruder who broke into Queen's bedroom in 1982

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Dec 29, 2021, 01:30 AM IST
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Photograph:(Reuters)

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The Windsor Castle security breach recalls the shocking Michael Fagan incident

The United Kingdom police arrested a 19-year-old who entered the grounds of Windsor Castle with a crossbow, where Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was spending Christmas with some other members of the Royal Family. 

Thames Valley Police Superintendent Rebecca Mears said, "The man has been arrested on suspicion of breach or trespass of a protected site and possession of an offensive weapon."

The Metropolitan Police later said that the Southampton man was stopped "within moments" and he did not enter any buildings. The incident happened around 08:30 GMT on Christmas Day. 

The police also said that the man was "in the care of medical professionals" but later a report by British tabloid The Sun reported that the crossbow-wielding man was threatening to "assassinate the Queen in revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre". 

The Sun published a report citing a video obtained by them, which shows the man [the suspect of Windsor Castle breach], clad in a black hoodie with a mask, holding a black crossbow and using a distorted voice to make the threats. 

The man in question here is reported to be Jaswant Singh Chail, who uploaded the pre-recorded video to Snapchat on Christmas Day, minutes before the arrest was made by police inside the grounds of Windsor Castle. 

In the video, he can be seen wearing a disturbing hoodie and mask - an outfit thought to be inspired by the 'Star Wars', the Daily Mail reported. 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I've done and what I will do. I will attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the Royal Family. This is revenge for those who have died in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre," the man in a black hoodie can be heard as saying in the video. 

"It is also revenge for those who have been killed, humiliated and discriminated on because of their race. I`m an Indian Sikh, a Sith. My name was Jaswant Singh Chail, my name is Darth Jones," the video further revealed. 

ALSO READ | UK: Sikh youth threatens to ‘assassinate’ Queen to avenge Jallianwala Bagh massacre, arrested

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Michael Fagan incident

The Windsor Castle security breach recalls the shocking Michael Fagan incident when he broke into the Queen's bedroom in Buckingham Palace in 1982 when she was sleeping. 

The intrusion happened in the early hours of July 9 when Fagan scaled Buckingham Palace's 14-foot-high perimeter wall, climbing up the drainpipe, entering the Palace. The British man somehow managed to reach the Queen's bedroom. 

His movements were detected by an alarm sensor but it is claimed that the security silenced it after they thought it to be faulty. Reports have mentioned that Fagan roamed the corridors of the majestic Palace for several minutes. 

He reportedly broke a glass ashtray when he had entered one of the rooms and cut his hand. If reports are believed to be true, he was carrying a fragment of the glass when he entered the Queen's bedroom. 

Well, this wasn't the first time, Fagan's first intrusion into the palace took place in early June 1982 when he had reportedly entered the Palace and then sneaked back out.