Jaswant Singh Chail charged with treason for planned crossbow attack on UK queen

Man, 20, was found in grounds of Windsor Castle on Christmas Day allegedly carrying loaded weapon

Jaswant Singh Chail has been charged with making threats to kill, possession of an offensive weapon and an offence under the 1842 Treason Act after being arrested at Windsor Castle. AP

A man has been charged under the Treason Act after he was arrested while allegedly carrying a crossbow in the grounds of Windsor Castle “with intent to injure” the UK's Queen Elizabeth II on Christmas Day last year, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said on Tuesday.

Jaswant Singh Chail, from Southampton, has been charged with “being near to the person of the queen, wilfully producing a loaded crossbow with intent to use the same to injure the person of her majesty”, said Scotland Yard.

Mr Chail, 20, has also been charged with threats to kill and possession of an offensive weapon.

He is in custody and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on August 17.

Nick Price, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime and Counter-Terrorism Division, said prosecutors have authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Mr Chail “after he was arrested in the grounds of Windsor Castle on December 25, 2021, carrying a crossbow”.

“Mr Chail, 20, has been charged with making threats to kill, possession of an offensive weapon and an offence under the 1842 Treason Act,” he said.

“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr Chail are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.”

Under the 1842 Treason Act, it is an offence to assault the queen or have a firearm or offensive weapon in her presence with intent to injure or alarm her or to cause a breach of peace.

In 1981, Marcus Sarjeant was imprisoned under the Treason Act after he fired blank shots at the queen while she was riding down The Mall in central London during the Trooping the Colour parade in 1981.

He was sentenced to jail for five years after pleading guilty.

The last person to be convicted under the separate and more serious 1351 Treason Act was William Joyce, also known as Lord Haw-Haw, who collaborated with Germany during the Second World War.