Setting out the facts, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said the “heart of the issue” was whether Chail was suffering from auditory hallucinations at the time “taking away his ability to exercise self control”. A court artist sketch of Jaswant Singh Chail, from Southampton, at a previous court hearing (Elizabeth Cook/PA) On Wednesday, Chail appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey before Mr Justice Hilliard for the start of his two-day sentencing.

In February, 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.

He was armed with a powerful crossbow with the safety catch off which was capable of firing bolts with “lethal” effect, the Old Bailey was told. The former supermarket worker had scaled the perimeter of the grounds with a nylon rope ladder and was in the grounds for two hours before two officers detained him. He was detained on Christmas Day 2021 close to the late Queen’s private residence, where she and other members of the royal family were at the time. Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, had described himself as a “Sith” and “Darth Jones” in a sinister video and confided his murderous plan to an Artificial Intelligence companion, a court heard.

A self-styled “assassin” caught with a crossbow in the grounds of Windsor Castle was partly inspired to attack the late Queen by the Star Wars films, a court has heard.

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