Security caught off guard at the Tower as thief makes off with the keys
Intruder makes off with keys to the fortress that guards Britain's crown jewels after being apprehended on the premises by the nightwatchmen
There was embarrassment at the Tower of London - home of the British crown jewels - after it emerged that guards released an intruder they found on the grounds, without realising that he had stolen a set of its keys.
The locks have since been changed. It is certainly not how they used to treat criminals at the Tower of London, where grisly executions have made the 940-year old fortress a symbol of ruthless British justice.
It emerged on Monday that instead of a night in the dungeon or a trip through Traitors' Gate, private security guards at the royal palace mistakenly released the night intruder, who they found prowling in the grounds.
They missed the fact that he had stolen a set of keys to drawbridges and other locks.
In the early hours of November 6, as the embers of Bonfire Night - when Britain's celebrate Catholic rebel Guy Fawkes' 1605 attempt to blow up the House of Parliament - died away, the intruder scaled a fence and dropped down into a pedestrianised area.
The man's presence was detected by the guards in the security control centre and the night guard was despatched to apprehend the trespasser and was on the scene within three minutes. By then, though, the intruder had managed to swipe a set of keys from an unguarded sentry box just outside the main gates.
The Tower authorities sheepishly admitted on Monday that instead of getting to the bottom of what he was doing there and what might have been in his pockets, the guard led him from the premises and let him go.
