Windsor Castle intruder’s ex-classmates dub him ‘oddball’; father says he became isolated in lockdown

Jaswant Singh Chail, a 19-year-old who allegedly tried to enter Windsor Castle with a crossbow in an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II, has been dubbed an “oddball” by his ex-classmates.

School friends said that Chail, a former student at Toynbee School in Chandler’s Ford, would try to make others laugh with inappropriate jokes in the classroom. One told the Daily Mail, “He was always a bit odd and quiet most of the time.”

However, another former school friend who did not wish to be named said Chail “seemed like a normal lad really.” He recalled, “Nothing to distinguish him from anything else. There was one big incident with him getting in a fight with someone but that was back when he was 13.”

Chail’s father Jasbir Singh, a software engineer who raised him and his twin-sister at their £500,000 home in Southampton, told the outlet that something had gone “horribly wrong” with his son that they are trying to figure out. A new report reveals that Jasbir had talked to his neighbours about the impact that the coronavirus-induced lockdown was having on his teenage son.

One neighbour recalled, “The dad would see me doing chores outside my house and would often come over to chat and tell me how envious he was because his son wasn’t doing anything around the house.”

The neighbour, who did not want to be named, added that Jasbir had mentioned a few times how difficult it was getting to have his son involved in anything positive or motivate him, and he blamed the lockdown for it. “The dad told me that his son was spending more time alone in his room on social media and the lockdown had made this worse. I think the lockdown was quite frustrating for the dad as it was for the parents of a lot of teenagers. From what I could gather, Jas wasn’t doing anything constructive throughout the lockdown,” they recalled.

Another neighbour confirmed that Jasbir had expressed concerns about his son’s behaviour. They said, “The dad seemed a bit worried about his son and said that he was quite demotivated and isolated. I just put it down to parents moaning about their teenage kids but the lockdown definitely made it worse for the family.”