Windsor Castle conman guilty

A conman today admitted tricking his way into Windsor Castle by posing as a senior police officer and claiming to be accompanying friends of Princes William and Harry.

Michael Hammond spent more than an hour inside the grounds after ringing police stationed in the castle and impersonating a Scotland Yard detective.

The incident sparked a massive security scare last May, just 12 days after a major review of royal security and a year after Aaron Barschak gatecrashed William's 21st birthday party at Windsor.

A court heard today how Hammond, 36, also pretended to be an array of police officers on other occasions, leading the Met on wild goose chases as he made hoax calls for assistance and reported sightings of armed criminals.

At one time he claimed to be a "detective from Operation Trident and had innocent members of the public stopped near Downing Street and in the Mall".

On another occasion he pretended to be from Interpol and had an Iraqi family stopped on a ferry heading to Dover after claiming they were al Qaeda suspects.

The conman formerly adopted the name Edwards-Hammond and has claimed to be friends of both Prince Charles and Prince Andrew.

Today he pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court to one count of being a public nuisance which incorporated 11 alleged incidences of falsely impersonating a police officer and one of wasting police time. Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson referred to the "gravity" of Hammond's crimes and said he would be sentenced on 4 February. Anthony Orchard, prosecuting, told the court Hammond had 102 convictions, mostly for fraud or deception.

Hammond marched into the grounds of Windsor on 17 May through the Henry VIII gate, reserved for members of the royal family and staff.

He had phoned saying he was Detective Supt Simon Morgan, who is in charge of the Operation Minstead hunt for Britain's most prolific sex attacker. Hammond was caught after officers saw his antics on CCTV.

After his arrest he claimed to be a millionaire playboy and film consultant. In reality he was a conman, the son of a decorator from Bexhill, East Sussex, and was heavily in debt.

Hammond was remanded in custody. Lucy Kennedy, defending, described him as a man with "difficulties" and said the offences were linked to alcohol.