Homeless man jailed for breaking into Buckingham Palace

LONDON - A homeless man who trespassed in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and slept in the garden has been jailed, local media reported Saturday.

Steven Lawlor, 44, entered the protected royal site on July 16 and broke poster boards and glass cabinets fixed to metal railings to use as bedding, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.

He stayed there for more than four hours before the security guards spotted him on CCTV cameras.

The Queen was not in the palace at that time.

Lawlor was sentenced to 28 days in jail for trespassing and 21 days for criminal damage.

The break-in prompted concerns over the security of the royal site. The Times newspaper reported that there were at least two intruders at the palace last year. A 22-year-old man was arrested trying to climb a security fence last August, while in December a man was caught attempting to scale a wall within the perimeter fence.

In 2016, a convicted murderer was jailed after climbing over the wall to get inside the palace and stay there for ten minutes.