A man who drunkenly climbed into the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace was fined £1,000 after spending seven weeks in custody.
Mustafa Awad had been on a 10-day trip to the UK when he decided to scale a wall opposite the mews, in the early hours of September 16.
The 25-year-old then filmed himself on his phone saying ‘the King is asleep’ before police found him hiding in a paddock with a horse, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
Antonia Gray, defending, said Awad, who works as a computer engineer for Apple, was drunk at the time.
‘This is a 25-year-old man who behaved in an immature, reckless and foolish way. I hope you accept that this was drunken behaviour,’ she said.
‘He accepts that he caused a huge amount of concern. It was a great nuisance, no more than that.’
Ms Gray said Awad, who pleaded guilty to trespassing on a protected site, had already spent seven weeks in custody and added: ‘He has had seven weeks to reflect on the behaviour that led to his incarceration for such a lengthy period of time.’
Earlier prosecutor Rhianne Neil said: ‘On 16 September, just before 1.30am, a member of the public called the police stating they had seen a man climbing the wall on Grosvenor Road bordering The Royal Mews.
‘The suspect was then seen inside the grounds and filming with a mobile phone.
‘Officers attended the scene at around 2:30am and found the defendant hiding in the corner of the paddock with a horse.’
Awad claims he climbed the wall to take photos and wanted to get a better angle.
He says he fell and injured himself and couldn’t get back over it.
Awad had arrived in the UK on September 7 and had been planning to fly to Spain the following day.
Police found him carrying two passports – from Ecuador and Spain – an iPhone, cash, and a battery pack to charge his phone.
Sentencing Awad, district judge Daniel Sternberg: ‘You made a very stupid, drunken mistake, and I am dealing with you on that basis.
‘You need to understand that if there is any repetition of this behavior on your part it is extremely unlikely that you would be dealt with in such a lenient way again.
‘It is highly likely that you would face an immediate custodial sentence.’
Awad, who gave his address as Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge, was fined £1,000 and must also pay a £400 victim surcharge with £85 in prosecution costs.
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