'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley sentenced to 41 months in prison for role in US Capitol riot

ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore heard from Chansley's mother about his childhood

For the attempted coup of January 6th, there was one bizarre character who was the face of the story. Jacob Chansley, better known as the QAnon Shaman.Chansley was unmissable. Visually, he appeared to be fighting a Viking war in the 10th century, rather than participating in an insurrection in Washington DC in 2020.

He was wearing a caricature of a Viking helmet with horns, along with face paint, his body draped in furs.The ITV team first glimpsed Jacob Chansley just after 2pm on January 6, at the top of steps to the west side of the Capitol building.

Watch ITV News' eyewitness report from inside the US Capitol as Trump supporters storm building

A few moments after ITV cameraman Mark Davey filmed him shouting "USA! USA!"

Chansley was among the first of the insurrectionists to storm the building, crossing the threshold a minute or two before us.

In a Washington DC courtroom Chansley, aged 33, was sentenced to 41 months in jail for his actions that day.

Prosecutors had demanded he serve more than four years in prison.  

Chansley's lawyer insists his client is suffering from mental health challenges and points out that he caused no damage and did not assault anyone.

As a boy, Jacob was the victim of severe bullying at school and grew up in a household in which there was both violence and alcoholism.As a young adult, Chansley became interested in native American culture and shamanism.

In his bedroom, there is a giant picture of a wolf and indigenous symbols everywhere you look, along with his own Shamanism-influenced paintings.

Robert Moore spoke to Chansley's mother, Mother, for a special ITV programme - After the Storm: America’s Enemy Within? 

But later he became immersed in less innocuous views - falling for QAnon, the conspiracy theory that believes that there is a heroic figure in the US government trying to save the world from satanic left-wing forces.As he appeared at various right-wing protests promoting these bizarre theories, Chansley became known as the QAnon Shaman.

After we lost sight of Chansley on the steps of Congress on January 6, he next appeared in the Senate chamber itself, leading insurrectionists in prayer.

He wrote a note on a desk, apparently to Vice President Mike Pence, that read, "It's only a matter of time. Justice is coming!"

Is he a right-wing insurrectionist who wanted to bring terror to the US Capitol?

Or is he just an eccentric with mental health vulnerabilities who is being over-charged by aggressive prosecutors?He has already been held in detention for 10 months. Now a judge has decided he must spend even longer behind bars.