Princess Anne’s attempted kidnapper released from psychiatric hospital

The man who attempted to kidnap Princess Anne at gunpoint more than 50 years ago has been quietly released from a secure psychiatric hospital.

Ian Ball, now 77, was released from Broadmore Hospital in 2019, and has quietly been living in the community since.

The news has emerged following an interview he has granted to the Daily Mail, in which he continues to protest his innocence.

Ball spent 45 years in high-security psychiatric detention after pleading guilty to the attempted murder of three police officers, and the attempted royal kidnap in a case that shocked the nation. 

The would-be abductor ambushed the Princess Royal and her then-husband, Captain Mark Phillips, on The Mall in March 1974, shooting four people in an attempt to seize Anne.

In a new interview, Ball insisted he had “good reason” to believe that “the gunpowder had been taken out of the bullets” and that the woman in the car was not the Princess. 

“I’m an innocent, sane man,” he told the Daily Mail, adding, “I didn’t scare her. I was more scared than she was.”

Ball’s release, under restriction and not publicly announced at the time, allows him to live under supervision in the community. 

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Restricted patients can be recalled back to hospital if their mental health deteriorates to such a level that the risk they pose becomes unmanageable in the community.”

Now self-published, Ball has released an autobiographical novel titled To Kidnap A Princess, in which he describes the events of 1974 and his years inside Rampton and Broadmoor. 

The abduction attempt, which occurred when Ball blocked the Princess’s car with his own, resulted in her personal protection officer, Inspector Jim Beaton, being shot three times. The royal chauffeur, a police constable, and a passing journalist were also injured. All three survived, with Beaton awarded the George Cross for his actions. 

Former heavyweight boxer Ronnie Russell, who punched Ball to the ground, was also decorated with the George Medal. Queen Elizabeth II reportedly told him, “The medal is from the Queen, but I want to thank you as Anne’s mother.”

Princess Anne, then 23, remained calm throughout the ordeal. When Ball demanded she accompany him because he wanted a ransom, she famously replied: “Not bloody likely, and I haven’t got £2 million.” She later described being “furious” with her attacker and frustrated that her blue velvet dress had been torn.