Buckingham Palace crash man 'lucky he wasn't shot'

A man who crashed his car into the Buckingham Palace gates, causing damage put at nearly £25,000, has been told at his sentencing that "you are very lucky that you didn't get yourself shot".

Johnny Scott, 26, from Hornchurch, east London, previously pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage after he drove his VW Polo into the palace's South Centre Gate on 9 March.

At Westminster Magistrates' Court, District Judge Neeta Minhas also told him: "You have caused a very high level of damage to a structure that is of huge cultural importance in the United Kingdom."

She gave Scott a 12-month community order and barred him from entering the area around Buckingham Palace.

Scott was approached by armed officers who arrested him at the scene immediately after the crash, while the vehicle he was driving was subsequently destroyed, the court heard.

In mitigation, Aamina Khalid said her client had had a "psychotic episode" on the day of the crash, suffering a relapse of his bipolar disorder, and was "not able to understand what his actions were" as a result.

Scott had not been under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Ms Khalid said.

She told the court he expressed "deep remorse" for what happened and that it had been "completely out of character".

Scott was also ordered to undertake 100 hours of unpaid work within the next year, and to pay £5,000 in compensation over a period of two years.

No members of the Royal Family were in residence when the crash happened, a palace spokesman said at the time.

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