Marcus Sarjeant | |
|---|---|
| Born | Marcus Simon Sarjeant 1963 or 1964 (age 61–62) |
| Known for | 1981Trooping the Colour ceremony incident |
Marcus Simon Sarjeant (born 1963 or 1964) is a British man who fired sixblank shots nearQueenElizabeth II as she rode downThe Mall to theTrooping the Colour ceremony in London in 1981.[1]
Sarjeant, who was fromCapel-le-Ferne, nearFolkestone,Kent, went toAstor Secondary School inDover. He was a member of theScouts, becoming local patrol leader before leaving to join theAir Training Corps in 1978. In the ATC, Sarjeant won a marksman's badge, and he owned anair rifle. After leaving school in May 1980 with sevenCSE passes, Sarjeant applied to join theRoyal Marines but left after three months, saying that officersbullied him. He also tried to join theArmy but stayed only for two days of an induction course.[2]
After failed applications to join the police and thefire brigade, he worked at a zoo and at an arts centre in Folkestone. Under theYouth Training Scheme he worked at a youth centre inHawkinge.[3] Friends reported that Sarjeant joined the Anti-Royalist Movement in October 1980. At the time of the incident at theTrooping the Colour, he wasunemployed and living with his mother, while his father was working abroad.[3]
He tried unsuccessfully to find ammunition for his father's.455 Webley revolver. To get a gun licence of his own, he joined a local gun club. Throughmail order he paid £66.90 for twoblank-firing replicaColt Python revolvers. In the run-up to the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony, Sarjeant sent letters to two magazines, one of which included a picture of him with his father's gun. He also sent a letter toBuckingham Palace which read "Your Majesty. Don't go to the Trooping the Colour ceremony because there is an assassin set up to kill you, waiting just outside the palace". The letter arrived on 16 June.[2]
On 13 June 1981, Sarjeant joined the crowds for Trooping the Colour, finding a spot near the junction between The Mall and Horseguards Road. When the Queen came past riding her 19-year-old horseBurmese, Sarjeant quickly fired six blanks from his starting pistol. The horse was momentarily startled but the Queen brought her under control and was unharmed. Lance Corporal Alec Galloway of theScots Guards seized Sarjeant and pulled him over the crowd control barriers, where Galloway and others disarmed and subdued him.[4][5] Sarjeant told them, "I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be a somebody".[2]
In questioning, Sarjeant said he had been inspired by the assassination ofJohn Lennon inDecember 1980, and the attempts on the lives ofPresident of the United StatesRonald Reagan inMarch 1981 and ofPope John Paul II inMay 1981. In particular, he observed the ease with whichMark David Chapman had become famous after killingJohn Lennon. A friend said that at the time ofJohn Hinckley Jr.'s attempt on the life of Reagan, Sarjeant had said "I would like to be the first one to take a pot shot at the Queen".[6]
Sarjeant became the first person since 1966 to be prosecuted under theTreason Act 1842,[7] and was brought to trial before theLord Chief Justice,Lord Lane, on 14 September 1981. He pleaded guilty and Lord Lane, insentencing him to five years' imprisonment, said that "the public sense of outrage must be marked. You must be punished for the wicked thing you did".[8] He was found guilty of an offence under Section Two of the Treason Act in that he "wilfully discharged at or near Her Majesty the Queen a gun with the intent to alarm or distress Her Majesty."[6] Sarjeant appealed against the length of the sentence, but the appeal was refused.[9]
After three years in prison which were mostly spent atHMP Grendon Underwood inBuckinghamshire,[10] Sarjeant was released in October 1984 at the age of 20. He changed his name and began a new life. He had written to the Queen from prison to apologise for the shooting but did not receive a reply.[1]