‘Muslim Prince’ made blast threat to royal wedding
‘Alarming’ emails from Leicester man to Duke of York sparked scare before Harry and Meghan’s big day
AN APPARENT threat to bomb the royal wedding caused a security scare before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s nuptials, it can be revealed.
In a series of threatening emails sent to the Duke of York, the Royal family were warned that the big day last May would be a “blast”.
Mohammad Jibra-eel Saleh faces jail after being found guilty of malicious communications with his posts to the Duke and Government officials.
Twelve days before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle married at Windsor Castle in May last year, Saleh, claiming to be the “Muslim Prince of Spain”, sent abusive and alarming emails to the Duke of York, the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence, Leicester Crown Court heard.
He warned the Royal family: “We’re at war” and “your grandson’s wedding is going to be a blast”, hinting of a fatal bomb explosion.
In one Gmail account email to the Duke – the seventh in line to the throne – the 37-year-old, from Leicester, wrote: “You f------ stupid British Royal family. I am the Muslim Prince of Spain, married to the illegitimate daughter of the former King of Spain, Juan Carlos’s daughter, called Marguerita.
“All you British Royal family are going to die for having me arrested and tortured in prison in Netherlands. We’re at war, b----.
“Your grandson wedding is going to be a blast.”
The rambling and alarming communication caused such concern that police tracked down the sender and managed to arrest him two days before the televised wedding, watched around the world, on May 19 2018.
The defendant initially pleaded not guilty to three charges of sending electronic communications with intent to cause distress and anxiety and sending an electronic communication that conveyed a threat.
But he was found guilty last month of all the offences by a majority verdict in a trial of the facts, after he was deemed unfit to stand trial and plead due to suspected mental health issues.
The emails to the Duke of York were “quite similar” to those sent to government officials, the court was told.
The defendant, who faces a prison term, remains at home on unconditional bail. He had been due to be sentenced last week but the case was adjourned until a date to be fixed for an outstanding medical report at his defence counsel’s request.
Saleh appeared to be referring to Harry and Meghan’s nuptials in one email but confusingly wrote in his online attack on the Royal family to the Duke of York’s office: “Your grandson’s wedding.” In his disorientated state he may have intended the message to be for the Duke of Edinburgh.
Just five months later, in October 2018, Princess Eugenie, the Duke’s daughter, was to marry Jack Brooksbank at the same Berkshire venue.
Prosecutor Joey Kwong told the hearing that Saleh had sent three threatening emails of similar content, using two different mobile phones, to
‘All you British Royal family are going to die... Your grandson wedding is going to be a blast’
the Duke of York, the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence, all purporting to be from the Muslim Prince of Spain.
He said police had done “a subscriber check” for Google and ascertained that Saleh was a signed user. He appeared to have logged on during a visit to a Mcdonald’s fast food restaurant and then later used an account while in the north on a Lancashire bus.
Lucy Jones, representing Saleh, questioned if prosecutors could prove it was her client who sent the malicious communication, saying: “Did Mr Saleh write those emails? Did he press ‘send’ and can you be sure of this with that piece of a puzzle missing?
“I suggest that piece is missing and so I suggest you can’t be sure of it, and so the correct verdict in this case would be not guilty.”