Soldier carrying duties at Buckingham Palace jailed for selling ammunition: report

A soldier from the elite unit, who was responsible for protecting the royal family, has been jailed for three years after selling bullets to an undercover officer in a police sting.

Rajon Graham, 34, who served as lance sergeant in the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards, was dishonourably discharged from the British Army in October last year after pleading guilty to four counts of selling ammunition.

Graham, during his service, was reportedly based at the Wellington Barracks near Buckingham Palace and tasked with carrying out state and ceremonial duties at the time of the offences between December 7, 2020 and January 28, 2021.

He reportedly earned £5,800 by selling a total of 300 9mm bullets, posing as a serious criminal involved in the drugs trade.

The ammunition was from a manufacturer who supplied the Coldstream Guards – the oldest continuous regiment in the Army, which carries out ceremonial duties at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle – but the Army claimed the bullets were not stolen from the military, the court heard.

However, Judge David Tomlinson, sentencing Graham, said: "Your ability to obtain this ammunition must have been connected to your occupation." 

The judge praised married father-of-one Graham’s "exemplary" service "provided to this prodigious wing of our armed services" over eight years.

"You believed that the person who paid you for this ammunition was an active criminal and someone you must or ought to have realised was part of an organised crime group. In fact, no harm was done because the individual you did this business with was an undercover police officer," the judge added.