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               Buckingham Palace Trespasser Is Convicted Murderer

   by Associated Press

   A man convicted of murder for beating a homeless man to death climbed
   over a wall and wandered around the grounds of Buckingham Palace while
   Queen Elizabeth II was at home, British prosecutors said Friday.

   Dennis Hennessy, 41, pleaded guilty to trespass during an appearance
   Friday at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London.

   He was arrested in the palace grounds on Wednesday evening. Police said
   he was not armed and claimed security measures had "worked
   effectively.''

   Prosecutor Tom Nicholson told the court that Hennessy walked around the
   gardens for about 10 minutes toward the palace before being arrested.
   As he was detained just before 9 p.m., he asked "Is Ma'am in?'' -- a
   courtesy term used for the queen.

   In a police interview, he said had "walked through the gardens admiring
   the view.''

   Nicholson said the intrusion triggered a police sweep with dogs and a
   helicopter and caused the royal family "significant inconvenience.''

   The prosecutor said Hennessy had killed a homeless man in 1992, when he
   was 17, by hitting him with an iron bar, "fracturing his skull into
   small pieces,'' and then jumping on his head. He was convicted of
   murder in 1993 and released from prison on parole in 2002.

   Defense lawyer Sikander Choudry said Hennessy, an unemployed
   stonemason, had been drinking before the palace break-in. He said
   Hennessy decided to scale the palace wall but "did not have any
   malicious intent towards the royal family.''

   But Judge Howard Riddle said "we simply don't know why he was there,
   and that makes it a matter of considerable concern.''

   Riddle sentenced Hennessy to four months in prison for trespassing and
   two months, to run concurrently, for damaging an alarm system.

   Several intruders have breached security at the queen's London
   residence over the years -- including a naked paraglider who landed on
   the roof in 1994.

   In 2013, two men were arrested on suspicion of burglary _ one in the
   grounds and one inside an area of the palace that's open to the public
   during the day.

   In 1982, an unemployed man named Michael Fagan managed to climb up a
   drainpipe and sneak into the queen's private chambers while she was
   still in bed. Elizabeth spent 10 minutes chatting with him before
   calling for help when he asked for a cigarette.
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   ed-murderer/3339009.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/buckingham-palace-tresspasser-convicted-murderer/3339009.html