Who is Jaswant Singh Chail and what are his crimes?
ON Christmas Day 2021 Jaswant Singh Chail entered the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow.
He became the first person to be convicted of treason since 1981. Here’s the lowdown.
Who is Jaswant Singh Chail?
Jaswant Singh Chail is a British man and is the first person to be convicted of treason since 1981.
He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to intending to injure or alarm Her Majesty after he was arrested outside Windsor Castle on December 25, 2021.
Chail is due to be sentenced on March 31, 2023.
What are his crimes?
Chail was caught in the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow and told police and soldiers: “I am here to kill the Queen.”
He has since been convicted of treason.
The most serious charge he faced was under Section Two of the Treason Act said that “on December 25 2021 at Windsor Castle, near to the person of the Queen, you did wilfully produce or have a loaded crossbow with intent to use the same to injure the person of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, or to alarm Her Majesty”.
He was also charged with making a threat to kill the Queen and having a loaded crossbow, an offensive weapon, in a public place.
What is the Treason Act?
The Treason Act 1842 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
It was passed early in the reign of Queen Victoria.
The 1842 Treason Act makes it an offence to assault the monarch, or have a firearm or offensive weapon in their presence with intent to injure or alarm them or to cause a breach of peace.
Today a person convicted under the Treason Act is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years.
The last person to be convicted under the same 1842 Treason Act was Marcus Sarjeant, who fired blank shots at the Queen as she was riding down The Mall in London during the Trooping the Colour parade in 1981.
Nazi propagandist William Joyce, also known as Lord Haw-Haw, was the last person to be convicted under the separate and more serious 1351 Treason Act, in 1945.