Buckingham Palace intruder: Man who broke into grounds is convicted murderer

The man told police he had 'walked through the gardens admiring the view'

Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on the security incident (PA)

A convicted murderer has been sentenced to four months in prison after climbing over the fence surrounding Buckingham Palace.

The 41-year-old man spent 10 minutes "admiring" the gardens before being caught.

Dennis Hennessy, of Barnhill Road, Wembley, north-west London, cut his right hand climbing over the top of the wall, which is eight to 10ft high, and set the alarm off.

He proceeded to walk through the gardens towards the Palace, where the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of York were in residence, before he was arrested by armed police.

After being detained, he asked "is Ma'am in?" repeatedly, prosecutor Tom Nicholson told Westminster Magistrates' Court.

In an interview with police, he said he had "walked through the gardens admiring the view".

Hennessy pleaded guilty to one count of trespass on a protected site and one count of criminal damage.

The court heard he was on licence after being convicted of the murder of a homeless man in 1992.

Chief magistrate, senior district judge Howard Riddle, sentenced him to four months for trespassing and two months, to run concurrently, for damaging the wires of the alarm system.