Mega balls up

**4me2** · 29th June 2003

SECOND WINDSOR CASTLE SECURITY FIASCO

IT couldn't have been easier. Just five days after "comedy terrorist" Aaron Barschak gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party, I was inside Windsor Castle too.

And I did it without any false passes, clandestine manoeuvres or brilliant disguises...myself and photographer Neil Hall simply drove through a security checkpoint saying we were there to pick someone up.

Then 26 hours later red-faced Metropolitan police officers arrived on Neil's doorstep and sheepishly said: "We've come to check you're not al-Qaeda...are you?"

Our plan could have been executed by anyone - we could easily have been al-Qaeda terrorists with a boot filled with explosives.

More remarkable it came after Met police chief Sir John Stevens and Home Secretary David Blunkett called for an inquiry and pledged a tightening of security following the Barschak fiasco.

I began by scanning the internet. I managed to download a detailed map of the Home Park - a private, two-mile-square area used exclusively by the Queen and her servants. It showed the main drives and pathways leading up to and around the castle.

I also found the name of a random castle worker - a senior housemaid - which we used as an excuse for visiting the castle.

There are several entrances to Windsor's inner cordon, and we chose Shaw Farm Gate.

The entrance is on the A308, a busy main road on the outskirts of the Berkshire town. Although it is almost two miles from the castle it is a popular route in by car for servants and tradesmen wanting to avoid the town centre.

A bonafide pass must be shown to get through the gates.

Visitors must also give advance notice and have an appointment with someone who lives or works there. That person would have to provide security with their visitor's name, car registration number and estimated time of arrival.

Proof of identification should also be demanded before the barriers are lifted. But Neil and myself were asked for none of these things.

We decided to leave our mission as late as possible when the grounds are less busy.

It was just after 9pm on Thursday - just as the Queen was tucking into a state banquet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in London - when we entered through the first set of metal gates, which were wide open, in a silver Ford Focus hire car.

A stone-walled gatehouse sits on the left, and on the right there is a small office, used as a shelter for civilian guardsmen.

We pulled up to a set of electronic barriers. A middle-aged man emerged from the hut and asked us to stop the car. He was dressed casually in a white short-sleeved shirt, and seemed to be the only person manning the gate.

There was also a boy aged about 10 who remained at the door of the small building as the guard sauntered over to the driver's window without a word.

It was impossible not to see the two signs saying in large red letters: "All passes must be shown."

Neil said: "We're just here to pick someone up from the cricket pavilion." The guard asked who it was, and I leaned over and replied with the housemaid's name.

We expected him to radio through our request, ask for a pass or identification, but we were stunned when the barrier slowly opened.

"No problem," said the guard, waving us on. We continued on along a tarmac driveway and came to a fork in the road - and took the wrong turn.

Still in clear view of the guard, his suspicions should have been aroused when we manoeuvred a clumsy three-point turn on the narrow lane.

We followed a sign for "sports ground parking" which took us through beautiful park lands and a number of large detached houses - homes for the Queen's senior staff.

We slowed as we rolled past a sign for the "Royal Gardens" and followed our noses before Windsor Castle came into view. Another half-a-mile along a different lane towards the castle, we passed Prince Consort's Home Farm and the Aviary directly on our right.

On our left was Frogmore, a cosy village-like area where more of the Queen's best-liked staff are housed.

We finally came across a shabby-looking cricket pavilion beside a small pitch and pulled into the car park next to two skips. We had now been inside for nearly 10 minutes and we had not come across one person.

The pavilion was empty. We got out of the car, walked on to the pitch and I posed for a photograph. Back in the car, we turned up a long, straight lane known as Frogmore Drive, lined by 30ft-high trees.

To the right was the immaculately-kept nine-hole Windsor Castle Golf Course, open only to members of the Royal Family and their servants.

We followed the drive for three-quarters-of-a-mile before it opened up to reveal the castle itself.

We had reached George IV Gateway and we'd soon be within touching distance of the Visitors Apartments, the State Apartments and the Private Apartments on the East Terrace of the castle. This is where the Queen has her personal living space and world leaders often stay during official visits.

We stopped the car close by so I could pose for a picture.

By this time, with the sun setting and Neil was forced to use the flash on his camera. This I thought would surely alert the suspicions of the 40-strong Royal Protection Squad guarding the castle 24 hours a day. But there was no sight and no sound of anyone. I felt I could have knocked on the Queen's door.

We then drove up to the castle wall, where we performed another less-than-graceful three-point turn.

As we did, we had a rare view of the famous Long Walk, looking down the hill from the castle.

We could see the well-known Black Gate several hundred yards down the walk. But, unlike the tourists, we we were on the inside looking out.

We decided to make our way back out, taking the same route. At any point I could have been dropped off to find a hiding place for the night. We continued towards the gate where I gave the same guard a friendly wave as he lifted the barrier and nodded us through - 30 minutes after we'd first entered the castle grounds.

It was at 11pm the following day when two detectives from Scotland Yard turned up at Neil's home. They told him a car hired under his name had been spotted on CCTV cameras inside the Windsor grounds the night before. "We just want to confirm, first of all, that this was you," said one. "We're just checking you're not al-Qaeda."

Neil explained who he worked for and made it clear we did not jump walls or force any locks to get in. The officers had clearly spoken to the civilian guard who let us in. One said: "You should never have been allowed past that gate and get that far and we have a duty to investigate it. I guess we'll just have to read the newspaper on Sunday. We have to hold our hands up - this should never have happened."

Last night Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin said: "This is absolutely extraordinary. It bears out my belief that there's no serious attention being paid to improving systems of civil protection."

Meanwhile, police were making desperate attempts to cover up the security shambles exposed by the Sunday Mirror. In a bizarre statement, Scotland Yard claimed we "did not breach the secured protected area" of the castle even though we roamed below the Queen's private rooms!

A Home Office spokesman said last night: "We will investigate.

Jun 29 2003
By James Saville

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/n...name_page.html

Someone is going to be in the poo about this one.