No Trespassing

Palace intruder is innocent

Asked why he had committed the alleged burglary and drunk wine belonging to the son of the owner of the premises, the defendant replied that he was "obeying a little voice in my head. Security was so bad I wanted to show as an example that I could get in." As for the alleged theft, he said, "I was thirsty and could not find a tap. [The wine] was in a cupboard. I was just waiting to be captured." As courtroom explanations go, they were certainly imaginative. But they were enough to convince a jury at London's Old Bailey that Michael Fagan, 34, had not acted criminally. After deliberating for only 14 minutes, the jury found the unemployed laborer not guilty of burglarizing Buckingham Palace last June 7, when he drank half of a $5.40 bottle of Riesling belonging to Prince Charles.

Fagan was arrested not during that visit but on a more famous one a month later. In the early hours of July 9, he climbed into the palace. After wandering the corridors, he entered Queen Elizabeth's bedroom and woke the sleeping monarch. Police did not charge Fagan with a crime for that intrusion, since he had not threatened any harm to the Queen or stolen any possessions. Under British law, trespass without causing actual damage or harming anyone is a civil matter and does not carry the risk of a jail sentence. Fagan was on trial for a burglary only in connection with his earlier, undetected breakin, which he confessed to police after his arrest. Yet to make the Burglary charge stick, the prosecution had to prove that Fagan had entered the palace with the intention of stealing something, a notion the jury rejected.

However correct in law, Fagan's acquittal prompted public expressions of outrage and raised the possibility of legal reform. Home Secretary William Whitelaw said a change in the law of trespass may be considered to make it possible to charge trespassers with criminal penalties. Said the tabloid Sun: "Next time you are walking along the Mall and feel thirsty, why not pop into Buckingham palace for a glass or two?"

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.