Man who was 'encouraged' by AI chatbot to try to kill Queen with crossbow jailed for treason

A man who was encouraged by an AI chatbot to break into Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow to try and kill the Queen has been jailed for nine years.

Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, a Star Wards fan who described himself as a "Sith" and "Darth Chailus" in one video, confided his murderous plot to an artificial intelligence-generated 'girlfriend' called Sarai, a court heard. In a journal, he wrote that if the Queen was 'unobtainable' he would instead "go for" the prince as a "suitable figurehead".

Chail was detained on Christmas Day 2021, close to the late Queen's private Berkshire residence, where she and other members of the royal family were staying at the time. He had scaled the perimeter of the castle with a nylon rope ladder and was on the grounds for two hours before being confronted by two officers with tasers.

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He was armed with a crossbow that had the safety catch switched off and was capable of firing bolts with "lethal" effect, the Old Bailey heard. Chail pleaded guilty to an offence under the Treason Act, making a threat to kill the then-queen and possessing a loaded crossbow in a public place.

In a televised hearing at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Hilliard jailed him to nine years with an additional five years on extended licence. The judge said: “The defendant harboured homicidal thoughts which he acted on before he became psychotic.

“His intention was not just to harm or alarm the sovereign – but to kill her.” Previously, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said the 'heart of the issue' was whether Chail was suffering from auditory