From there, he got a job as a painter and decorator which he worked on an off throughout the years. He attended Compton Street School until the age of 16, when he left home.
The Intruderīorn 1950 in Clerkenwell, London, Michael Fagan was the oldest of three children.
Breaking into the home of the British monarch, let alone Her Majesty's bedroom while she sleeps, should be no mean feat which is why when a man managed to do just that with relatively little effort in 1982, it kicked off one of the biggest security scandals in British history. Uninvited visitors, though? That's another matter altogether. Thousands of people walk the halls of the royal residence every year for state events, receptions, and tours, not to mention the veritable army of staff that keeps the palace running and, of course, the royal family themselves. (ETA subject to the actual circumstances surrounding the alleged theft of the wine, which are not clear from the quoted text.Buckingham Palace is no stranger to visitors. I can only surmise that the reason(s) theft, rather than burglary, was charged was a (pre CPS) prosecutorial decision based on the admissible evidence, Fagan's mental state and what was in the public interest because the quoted text seems to meet the criteria for burglary. All that's needed is to go in without permission intending or attempting to do one of the relevant offences. There is no difference between nightime and daytime entry, and there is no requirement for a forced entry. (2) The offences referred to in subsection (1)(a) above are offences of stealing anything in the building or part of a building in question, of inflicting on any person therein any grievous bodily harm or raping any woman therein, and of doing unlawful damage to the building or anything therein. (b) having entered any building or part of a building as a trespasser he steals or attempts to steal anything in the building or that part of it or inflicts or attempts to inflict on any person therein any grievous bodily harm. (a) he enters any building or part of a building as a trespasser and with intent to commit any such offence as is mentioned in subsection (2) below or In england-and-wales neither "house breaking" nor "breaking and entering" are legal terms: the offence is called burglary contrary to s.9 of the Theft Act 1968 which in 1983 was: Why would he not have been charged with "housebreaking"?
Though I can well appreciate that if no goods were taken it would unlikely qualify as burglary.īut there was evidence that Fagan broke a window to get into the building, after shinning up a drainpipe - at least on the second of the two occasions. Site" for the purposes of section 128 of the Serious Organised CrimeĪnd Police Act 2005, that such an offence has become criminal.Īlthough there is no criminal law of trespass in the UK, I was always of the understanding that there was a law against "housebreaking" (or is it "breaking and entering"?) and that if it took place after dark it was a more serious offence of "burglary". It was not until 2007, when Buckingham Palace became a "designated Hospital before being released on 21 January 1983. Problems." He spent the next three months in a psychiatric Imagine him just wanting to simply talk and say hello and discuss his July, Fagan's mother said, "He thinks so much of the Queen. Were dropped when he was committed for psychiatric evaluation. Since Fagan's actions were, at the time, a civil wrong rather than aĬriminal offence, he was not charged with trespassing in the Queen'sīedroom.He was charged with theft (of the wine), but the charges Having just watched the episode of The Crown (Netflix series) dealing with the break in at Buckingham Palace in 1982 by unemployed man, Michael Fagan, I looked up the Wikipedia entry on the matter and was surprised to find the following: