LONDON -- Michael Fagan, the man who twice broke into Buckingham Palace, was sentenced today to an indefinite term in a prison mental hospital to cure him of disorders psychiatrists said made him a danger to Queen Elizabeth II.
'He needs medical treatment and medical treatment he shall have,' Judge James Miskin said in the historic No. 1 court of London's Old Bailey criminal court.
Miskin said Fagan would attend the hospital 'as a patient not as a criminal' at the discretion of doctors and would be released when cured.
Fagan interrupted sentencing on a car-stealing charge, shouting: 'Burn the bastards, burn the bastards to hell. This is a fascist country. They are proving the fascists stick by them.'
Fagan, 32, who is unemployed, was bundled off to the cells shouting 'Sieg Heil.'
His lawyer Maurice Nadeem later released a statement from Fagan in which the palace intruder apologized to the queen for any embarrassment he may have caused her.
'Your Majesty, please excuse my intrusion into your privacy,' the statement said. 'I didn't realize it would become a world topic. All I wanted to do was to discuss my personal problems. But the way I went about it has embarrassed your family.
'You were wonderfully understanding with me and I know you'll accept that this apology is written with all sincerity,' the statement said.
Nadeem said he would decide within a few days whether to appeal the judge's decision.
It was Fagan's second Old Bailey appearance in 12 days. At the first trial a jury cleared hm of burglary at Buckingham Palace June 7 when he drank half a bottle of wine before leaving undetected. He broke into the royal residence again July 9 and was detained in the queen's bedroom, but faced no charges over that incident.
His latest court appearance had nothing to do with the break-ins at Buckingham Palace. On Monday he was acquitted of assaulting his 15-year-old stepson, but pleaded guilty to stealing a car.
The judge heard evidence from top psychiatrists that Fagan was a danger to the queen and the public and should be sent to a 'secure' mental hospital where violent and dangerous patients are treated.
One doctor, Dr. Edgar Udwin, described Fagan as schizophrenic.
'I have heard enough from Fagan in two hours to believe that if he were allowed a free run he would be dangerous,' Udwin said.
Fagan's counsel, Richard Slowe, asked: 'Dangerous to whom?' and Udwin replied, 'Currently to one person in particular.'
'Through my observation and several interviews, I found him to be a very unstable individual, potentially dangerous to any member of the public,' Dr. George Grant of Brixton Prison said in his testimony.
Passing sentence, Miskin said Fagan lacked all insight and had an unusual capacity for entering private premises.
'I'm told he is a potential danger to any member of the public who is or becomes the focal point of his delusions.'
The judge said, 'I accept the doctors' views that medical treatment must be in a secure place.' Fagan will be detained until he is cured, the judge said.
Fagan's lawyer submitted in court that the case had 'lost its sense of proportion.
'The issue before the court is the nature of the offense,' he said.
He claimed it was the first time anyone on trial at the Old Bailey with no history of violence had stood the risk of being sent to a special secure hospital.
