Homeless man broke into Palace grounds and slept for 4 hours

A HOMELESS man climbed over railings at Buckingham Palace, stole posters from a cabinet and spent four hours sleeping on royal property.

Steven Lawlor, 44, caused £210 worth of damage to the outdoor perspex display cabinet and the posters, which he used as bedding.

Yesterday the rough sleeper was charged with criminal damage and trespassing on a protected site.

He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video link to plead guilty to the two charges.

Lawlor had been due to appear in court on Tuesday and yesterday but refused to leave his cell.

Henry Fitch, prosecuting, said: ‘Mr Lawlor was seen sleeping inside mental rail- ings bordering Buckingham Palace. That’s a protected site … CCTV was rewound and showed at about 1am, some four hours prior, him pulling out the posters.

‘He was then seen to climb over the railings and lying down, using them [the posters] as bedding to sleep on.’

The court heard Lawlor had 70 previous convictions, including many for criminal damage and one attempted robbery last year.

In May he was handed a 16month sentence at Maidstone Crown Court for throwing urine at a prison guard.

Lawlor could remain in jail until March next year because of his persistent offending.

He had been living on the streets in Brighton before coming to London to seek help for his drug abuse problems, the court heard.

Stephanie Dale, defending, said Lawlor was ‘sorry and apologised’ for damaging the cabinet and trespassing.

Senior district judge Tan Ikram jailed Lawlor for 28 days for trespassing and 21 days for criminal damage.

He said: ‘You knew where you were entering that day and in doing so you damaged posters and caused £210 worth of damage. I accept that you entered Buckingham Palace and grounds to sleep, but you knew exactly where you were entering.

‘You have 70 previous convictions and this is an appalling catalogue of offending.’

The Queen had not been in residence at the time.

Several intruders have breached security at the pal- ace over the years — including a naked paraglider who landed on the roof in 1994.

The most famous was Michael Fagan’s 1982 intrusion, which saw him saunter past guards to enter the Queen’s chambers while she was in bed.

The unemployed father-offour, then 31, spent ten minutes talking to the Queen after he climbed over the walls and up a drainpipe.

Her Majesty raised the alarm after Fagan asked for a cigarette, allowing her to call for a footman who held him until police arrived.

And there were three alerts in just six months in 2016 – the worst being when convicted murderer Denis Hennessy, 41, was arrested just 50 yards from the main building.

After wandering the gardens for ten minutes, he repeatedly asked armed police, ‘Is Ma’am in?’ – which she was at the time.

‘Stole posters from a cabinet’