A man has become the first person to be convicted of treason in over 40 years after a hearing at England’s Central Criminal Court.
21-year-old Jaswant Singh Chail, from Hampshire, pleaded guilty to a charge under the Treason Act after threatening to kill Queen Elizabeth II on Christmas Day in 2021.
Chail arrived at Windsor Castle with a crossbow and told a protection officer that he was “here to kill The Queen.”
Chail also admitted making threats to kill and being in possession of a loaded weapon.
He is currently at Broadmoor Hospital and appeared at the Old Bailey courtroom via video link.
The last person to be convicted of treason was Marcus Sarjeant, who as a teenager in 1981, fired several blank shots in the direction of The Queen as she took part in the Trooping The Colour parade.
Sarjeant was jailed for five years for what the judge described as a “fantasy assassination”.
For the events of December 2021, Jaswant Singh Chail will be sentenced at a later date and remains in Broadmoor Hospital.
