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Royal gatecrasher: Police blamed
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Serious security flaws around the British royal family have been shown up by a report into how a comedian gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party. Police failed to respond when Aaron Barschak set off several alarms as he climbed a wall and entered Windsor Castle wearing a pink ball gown and fake Osama bin Ladan turban and beard, before joining the party on June 21. "There appears to have been no operational police response," said Thursday's report by City of London Police Commander Frank Armstrong. "Barschak activated a number of alarms in geographical sequence and is recorded on CCTV inside the castle as he made his way from his point of entry to the location of the party. "There appears to have been no operational police response to these alarm activations or the CCTV recordings. There appears to have been no uniformed police presence deployed in the area where Barschak gained access. "The situation was exacerbated by the blocking of an alarm and CCTV camera by contractors' vehicles. There appears to have been no police supervision of contractors. "A patrolling police officer in this area responding to the alarms and CCTV would have encountered Barschak and would have prevented his further intrusion." The report did not name individual officers. "I was not undertaking a witch hunt," said Armstrong. John Stevens, commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, said the report made "disturbing reading" and that his force was devastated by the security lapse, The Associated Press reported. Barschak, who calls himself a "comedy terrorist," said he kissed William on both cheeks before he was hauled out of the fancy dress party. He told The Mail newspaper: "I was carrying a bag which could have had a bomb in it. I was just yards away from the queen and Prince Charles. "If I had been a real terrorist the entire royal family would have been wiped out. "The whole time I was inside the castle I was expecting to trip an alarm, to be picked up on CCTV, or to be confronted by a policeman. "I was even worried about being shot by the police if they had mistaken me for a terrorist. But there was nothing." He has since said he regrets his publicity stunt. He cooperated with police and was not charged. On June 24, British Home Secretary David Blunkett told parliament the security lapse was "appalling."
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