UK jails man who posed as cop in Queen's castle

LONDON - Britain has jailed a serial conman for four-and-a-half years after he pleaded guilty to posing frequently as a police officer, including once as a ruse to infiltrate Queen Elizabeth's Windsor Castle.

Police said Michael Hammond often phoned police forces in and near London, pretending to be an officer in urgent need of assistance or trying to call out an armed squad.

Once he phoned police to say he was a top surgeon and needed an escort through traffic to perform an urgent operation to save the life of a six-year-old child.

Not only did he get the blue light escort; he later phoned police back to thank them and tell them the "operation" was a success.

He also used the ruse to get into Windsor Castle, although police said he did not reach parts of the castle beyond areas normally open to paying tourists. Police said the Queen was never in danger.

Security at the castle has been the subject of scandal before, after a prankster dressed as Osama bin Laden gate-crashed Prince William's birthday party in 2003.

Six months later a newspaper infiltrated the Queen's London residence, Buckingham Palace, by having one of its reporters get a job as a footman.

- REUTERS