An American tourist who climbed into Buckingham Palace while in the grips of a mental health crisis has been spared jail.
Joseph Huang Kang clambered over the wall into the Royal Mews, part of the grounds which houses the Queen’s horses.
The 24-year-old ran from staff when he was spotted trespassing on December 10 last year before being found in the toilets.
At the time, he was in the UK alone and had found himself sleeping rough because his debit cards had been cancelled.
Without funds, he was stuck in Heathrow for days but suffered an episode of psychosis before boarding the plane home his parents had booked for him.
Kang – who is from Houston, Texas – pleaded guilty to the offence at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Prosecutor Sadara Weerasena said: ‘No harm was caused, he did not enter the palace, he had no intention to enter the palace, there was no damage caused.’
She added: ‘The reason he went into the grounds was to seek medical help. He wanted to get arrested.’
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring fined Kang, who is currently staying in a central London hotel, £200, and ordered him to pay another £119 in costs.
He said: ‘The sooner your parents pay it and you can go, the less they will have to pay for a London hotel, which is obviously expensive.
‘What you were trying to do was looking for some help. You found yourself in a very difficult situation in a foreign country, with no funds, nowhere to live and all your property being lost.
‘I also accept you had no nefarious intent while you were there.
‘You weren’t in possession of anything and you weren’t seeking to get into the palace.’
The case bares some similarities to that of Cameron Kalani, who was handed a 24-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, at the same court this week after entering the same part of the royal grounds.
He was spotted scaling the wall on May 10 last year and was found by security shortly after climbing back over.
Kalani was also in a state of mental crisis but his offending deemed more serious as he was in possession of a knife and cocaine.
He said he had travelled to London from his home in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, while in a state of psychosis in a bid ‘to be arrested’.
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