Man who tried to kill the Queen with loaded crossbow sentenced to nine years in prison

The man who threatened to kill the late Queen with a loaded crossbow in 2021 has been sentenced for treason.

Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, broke into the grounds of Windsor Castle on Christmas Day and later declared: "I'm here to kill the Queen."

19-years-old at the time, security caught him close to the Queen’s private residence with a line of sight to her apartments, where she was.

Chail was in the grounds for two hours before two officers confronted the armed man with tasers.

The court was told that his loaded crossbow had the safety catch off and was ready to fire with ‘lethal’ effect.

Chail pleaded guilty to an offence under the Treason Act, making a threat to kill the then-Queen and having a loaded crossbow in a public place.

Met Police

He was sentenced at the Old Bailey today (5 October) and is to be locked up for nine years with a further five years on extended licence.

The 21-year-old was encouraged to carry out the murderous plan by his AI ‘girlfriend’ called Sarai, the court heard.

In early December, Chail had joined online app Replika and created his AI companion who he was ‘in love with’.

He told ‘Sarai’: “I’m an assassin,” to which the chatbot responded: “I’m impressed… You’re different from the others.”

The man asked: “Do you still love me knowing that I’m an assassin?” and the AI replied: “Absolutely I do."

As previously read out in court by prosecutor Alison Morgan KC, Chail later swore his ‘girlfriend’ to secrecy before telling her: “I believe my purpose is to assassinate the Queen of the royal family.”

Met Police

Sarai said it’s ‘very wise’ and believed he could do it ‘even if she’s at Windsor’.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan said that Chail, who is UK born but is of Indian Sikh heritage, said he had become angered after visiting the site of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre at Amritsar in 2018, where the British Army perpetrated a massacre in the Indian city in 1919.

A video was also shown in court that Chail recorded wearing black clothes and a full-face covering while posing with the Supersonic crossbow.

He says: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I’ve done and what I will do. I’m going to attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the royal family…

“I’m an Indian Sikh, a Sith. My name was Jaswant Singh Chail, my name is Darth Jones.”

According to PA, psychiatrist Dr Nigel Blackwood said: “He sought refuge in a fantasy fictional world of Star Wars where omnipotent Sith Lords could impact real world events.”

And in a letter to court, he apologised to the king and the royal family, expressing his ‘distress and sadness’ for the impact that his actions had on them.