A 'ginger extremist' who plotted to assassinate Prince Charles as part of a plan to put red-headed Prince Harry on the throne was today detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.
Mark Colborne appeared at the Old Bailey for sentencing yesterday after being found guilty of preparing terrorist acts in September. Experts pronounced him sane enough to stand trial, but said that the 37-year-old suffered from a severe personality disorder that required treatment. A judge has now ordered that Colborne be removed to a psychiatric unit in Hampshire "without limit of time".
In diaries discovered by his brother, Colborne wrote of his violent desires to carry out a terrorist attack and to shoot the Prince of Wales. One entry read: "Kill Charles and Prince Harry becomes king... Kill the tyrants and become free from tyrannical future rule," Deutsche Welle reports. "I want them to see my transition from poor red-haired victimised minority that is constantly walked over to a fully transformed military terrorist."
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"The terror attack in Norway was what I was planning to do in England. It was poetic and brilliant," Colborne wrote elsewhere, in a reference to right-wing fanatic Anders Breivik's shooting spree that left 69 people dead. Like Breivik, Colborne had used the internet to begin amassing ingredients and equipment to carry out his plans, including chemicals used to make cyanide, masks and syringes.
At his trial, Colborne's defence argued that the diary entries were merely "angry rants" written while Colborne was off his medication for depression, but the jury nonetheless found him guilty of preparing terrorist acts. Judge John Bevan QC described jobless loner Colborne as a "warped individual" who was "clearly dangerous".
The court heard how Colborne's family had been torn apart by the decision to report him to police. However, the judge asserted that Colborne's mother and other relatives had acted "entirely properly" in reporting the discovery, potentially averting a tragedy.
