Gunman who tried to kidnap Princess Anne let loose and claims 'I'm innocent'
Ian Ball, then 26, ambushed Queen Elizabeth's daughter in the Mall and tried to abduct her in March 1974, shooting four men who came to her aid.
The Princess Royal refused her assailant's demands to go with her and pay £2 million, telling him 'not bloody likely, and I haven't got £2 million'.
Ball was quietly let out of Broadmoor in 2019 on probation and now spends his time flogging a disturbing self-published book trying to prove his innocence, the Daily Mail reports.
The wanna-be kidnapper, now 77, told the newspaper: 'I'm an innocent, sane man because I had good reason to believe the gunpowder had been taken out of the bullets and another girl had been substituted for Princess Anne.'
Discussing the then 23-year-old Anne, Ball said: 'She wasn't bothered on the night.
'I didn't scare her. I was more scared than she was.'
When Ball appeared in court in May 1974, two months after the confrontation, he admitted attempted murder and attempted kidnap.
The gunman had skidded his car in front of Princess Anne's car on the Mall, and threatened to shoot her.
Ball used two guns to shoot her police bodyguard, her chauffeur, a police constable and a journalist who tried to intervene.
A tug-of-war even broke out over the princess between Ball and her husband Captain Mark Phillips.
It was not until former heavyweight boxer Ronnie 'The Geezer' Russel stepped in to help subdue him that Anne was freed.
Anne later said she was 'furious at this man' for ripping her favourite blue velvet dress.
But since his release Ball has been selling an 'autobiographical novel', To Kidnap A Princess, while trying to clear his name.
The bizarre description of Ball's book on Amazon describes how it 'opens with the dramatic and thrilling attempted kidnapping of Princess Anne' before detailing the author's 'eventful and turbulent 45-year stay in Rampton and Broadmoor criminal lunatic asylums'.
It adds: 'The book is an emotive read and it will make you laugh, make you cry, shock you even, but ultimately it will leave you in wonder at the indomitability of the human spirit.'
Ball continues to parrot the excuse that the kidnapping was actually a hoax gone wrong, an explanation he first made six months after the incident.
His line of events claims the kidnap attempt was staged with the help of a policeman 'friend' called 'Frank'.
This Frank was supposedly meant to have removed the gunpowder from the bullets in Ball's guns and replaced another woman for Princess Anne.
The former Broadmoor detainee said: 'The whole idea of performing the hoax was to get the publicity so I could write my autobiography, and I expected to get £10,000 in royalties.
'To prove my innocence I need to prove the existence of Frank. That will prove I had reason to believe it was all a hoax.'
He also claims he was wrongfully jailed by the 'upper classes', adding that the late Queen was the 'ring-leader'.
The Daily Mail report claims Ball uses social media to appeal against his convictions and has leaflets distributed in his local west London area, encouraging people to meet him.
Thorough risk assessments are conducted on 'restricted patients' like Ball before they are let out. Doctors have the power to 'manage the risk to the public'.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said of Ball's release: 'Restricted patients can be recalled back to hospital if their mental health deteriorates to such a level that the risk they pose becomes unmanageable in the community.' More Trending
Anne's bodyguard, former Metropolitan Police inspector Jim Beaton, was shot three times as he protected Anne and was later given the George Cross.
Former heavyweight boxer Ronnie Russell punched Ball twice in the head to stop the kidnapping after spotting the commotion.
Russell was awarded the George Medal by Queen Elizabeth II, who told him: 'The medal is from the Queen, but I want to thank you as Anne's mother.'
Anne's father, Prince Philip, later joked of the attempted kidnapping: 'If the man had succeeded in abducting Anne, she would have given him a hell of a time in captivity.'
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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The next day, the husband and wife unsuccessfully attempted to engage in a 'reasonable discussion' with Lloyd so instead wrote a letter back to her, which she refused to open. In the letter, they explained external contractors had completed work on their bathroom roof three months prior and all the old tiling had been removed with any debris swept up. They also attempted to call round to clear up the small amount of tree clippings that had fallen into Lloyd's garden but got no answer. 'Then all of a sudden she just turned,' the couple explained. 'To this day we don't know what reason, but that's when the abuse started. 'She was shouting at 1am in the morning that she was going to kill us. I was frightened of going out my front door.' Lloyd returned the sealed letter back to her neighbours, but wrote on top: 'Do anything to hurt or harm my children and I will go to the police!' 'From there on, we were called paedophiles, we were called murderers, you name it. We had to get cameras put in. She was shouting it over the fence. For nearly two years I didn't dare go out our back gate because she'd be there all the time waiting for me. 'We had the police out so many times and we told them she's like a ticking time bomb. You just don't know when she's going to kick off.' In social media posts seen by Daily Mail, Lloyd posted their faces and names online, calling them 'sex pests, child abusers and creepy ass stalkers'. When their grandson-in-law stuck up for them one day, Lloyd turned and 'suddenly hated him' as well, shouting abuse at him and issuing death threats. They explained: 'If she mouthed off, he would give her as much as back. That's what she didn't like. Our policy was to ignore her and it made it worse. His policy was you bite me, I'll bite you back. That made her worse too, you couldn't win.' In one terrifying moment in 2021, Lloyd allegedly pushed her pensioner neighbour off her bike, leaving her with bruises all over her arm. She was arrested but there was 'insufficient evidence' for her to be charged. In another, on July 17 2022, she threw bricks into the garden of the neighbours' granddaughter and husband while they were all having a barbeque. The Daily Mail has obtained a dossier of CCTV and photos which shows Lloyd's 'calculated' plot to attack the family. On April 18, 2023, a camera picked her up making a chilling threat, shouting: 'Do you have a preference? I've got a spade, I've got garden shears or I've got a rake.' Just three weeks later, on May 14, she stormed out her back gate at around 9.30pm and struck her victim over the head with a spade. The victim's grandmother-in-law, who saw the horror unfold before her eyes, said: 'He was bleeding a lot, it was so vicious.' Her partner added: 'She sprung up from behind the gate, she'd been waiting there with a spade in hand waiting for him to come back round. Then she's gone "there he is" and lunged at him with a spade. If that isn't with intent, what is? 'She hit him with the flat of the spade. If she'd hit him with the edge, he wouldn't be here. The lad would not be here now, guaranteed.' Police have only released footage of the spade attack, but the Mail can reveal how the violence did not stop there. Moments later, Lloyd rang up her ex-partner, the father of her children, who quickly arrived at the scene armed with a wooden baton. CCTV shows Aaron Hockey manhandling the victim's mother while he was inside recovering from his head wound. When he heard the commotion, he came outside and was smashed around the head by Hockey before Lloyd joined in. Hockey was handed a nine-month sentence, suspended for two years, for possession of an offensive weapon, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray. In other CCTV obtained by the Daily Mail, Lloyd is seen putting her middle finger up at her neighbours' camera while her children walk in front of her, while in another she throws her parking ticket on the floor. 'To say she's got no respect for the law would be an understatement,' they said. The neighbours, who have lived in their house for 30 years, say they had 'never encountered' anyone like Lloyd before, adding: 'We weren't sure what she was capable of and that's the scary bit.' They added: 'She'd used this tenuous excuse that we were all paedophiles and after her children to exact violence and threats and assault us. 'It's a total fabrication. It's so degenerate, it's like she was provoking us and looking for a reaction. When she didn't get it, it made her worse. It's about the worst thing you can call a person, a paedophile.' Although Lloyd has finally been convicted two years later, they say it has brought 'no relief'. 'It's such a deflation that we've waited all this time, it's finally gone to court, we had all the evidence and we just think where's the justice in that? 'Until the bailiffs come round, she's still got the keys to the place. What's to stop her coming round? 'She's not even in prison anymore. There's a restraining order but that's not stopped her before. There's physically nothing to stop her running back again.' Lloyd's neighbour on the other side was more sympathetic to the situation, telling the Daily Mail: 'I feel sorry for her. She needs help. She was always very friendly and helpful. She would offer to do my shopping and made me a Christmas dinner. 'She's got lovely twins. 'We were good friends for quite a while but then she cut herself off. I think mental problems started getting to her. 'She was friendly, helpful, bright, she could be funny.' Lloyd was jailed for ten months on July 31 at Peterborough Crown Court after admitting grievous bodily harm without intent. But she was released from custody due to time spent on remand. DCI Lloyd Davis said: 'Catherine Lloyd's behaviour in this case was completely unacceptable. 'Irrespective of any ongoing dispute, violence like this is not the answer. I'm pleased the victim can now move on.'
