Portsmouth man with 'fixation' on accessing Buckingham Palace admits trespass after scaling fences

Portsmouth native Daniel Brydges, 33, admitted trying to get into Buckingham Palace twice last year.

Queen Elizabeth II was at Windsor Castle on both occasions when Brydges tried to get onto royal grounds on December 18 and 22.

He wore glasses and a black suit with no tie when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Brydges, of Laburnum Grove, North End, attempted to hide his face behind a folder as he left court.

Sudara Weerasena, prosecuting, said he scaled two fences in Buckingham Palace grounds just after 5pm on December 18.

She said: ‘He climbed over The Royal Mews fence on Buckingham Palace Road.

‘He then scaled a second fence and, while doing so, he caused criminal damage to the barbed wire on the fence.’

Ms Weerasena said security officers spotted Brydges on CCTV, and police officers tracked him down and arrested him.

During a police interview about the incident, Brydges told officers he was homeless and looking for somewhere to sleep, she said.

Brydges was bailed on December 19 on the condition that he did not attempt to enter any royal residences.

However, Ms Weerasena said, on December 22 at 1.06pm, Brydges again scaled The Royal Mews fence, and ‘stooped behind a Land Rover’ before being challenged by a security officer.

‘At this point he climbs back over the fence and tries to run away,’ she said.

Ms Weerasena said Brydges was chased by the security officer, and later ‘claimed he had gone in there to collect a bottle of water which he had dropped’.

‘The second offence was committed while he was on bail,’ she said.

‘He was given clear conditions not to enter that area.’

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Ms Weerasena said Brydges had also attempted to gain entry to the Queen’s home on two previous occasions, in 2021 – travelling to London from Portsmouth.

Judge Annabel Pilling said Brydges had a ‘fixation’ on gaining entry to Palace grounds and described his offences as ‘serious’.

‘They are made more serious because you committed the second offence while you were on bail,’ she said.

‘You meant to breach security on the second occasion and there’s evidence that there’s a pattern here.’

Brydges will be sentenced on November 9.