A Harrow butcher Tasered by police outside Buckingham Palace as he brandished a carving knife while demanding to deliver a letter to the Queen has been spared jail.

Talhat Rehman, 55, sparked terror among tourists after holding the eight-inch blade to his throat during the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

Horrified sightseers and onlookers also witnessed Rehman press a second knife to his chest while threatening to kill himself.

He was heard to say 'I want to die' and 'stay back, I will do it, I will do it' before being subdued with a 50,000-volt stun gun last February 3.

Rehman, a father-of-five and grandfather of 18 who stood as a Tory councillor in 2002, was considering threatening the Queen and killing his own family in despair at an ongoing legal dispute.

The former owner of Kassam Halal Meat in Kingsbury wanted to appeal to Her Majesty directly over claims a solicitor stole £168,000 from him.

But the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were at their Sandringham Estate in Norfolk at the time of his outburst.

At Southwark Crown Court on Friday, Rehman admitted two counts of knife possession and was ordered to undergo mental health treatment.

Rehman, who has a history of mental illness and a background of 'psychotic episodes', had taken the enormous carving knives from a butcher's shop owned by his son.

Gillian Frost, defending, said Rehman genuinely believed he had been ripped off. His family claim he lost his savings and business after being defrauded by a lawyer who is no longer believed to be practicing.

The judge said Rehman was convinced he had been denied justice, and the "almost obsessional" belief had driven him mad.

Judge Alistair McCreath said: "This is a man whose mental health has been shattered by life's events.

"I am perfectly satisfied that whatever impression he may have given through his movements and actions, he had no intention to harm anyone except himself."

A further charge of affray was dropped after prosecutors offered no evidence.