A journalist seems to be at Friday’s newspaper entrance pages in London after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested and held for hours by British police on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace associated to his hyperlinks to Jeffrey Epstein.
Kin Cheung/AP
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Kin Cheung/AP
LONDON — Police searched the previous residence of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor once more on Friday, a day after he was arrested and held in custody for almost 11 hours on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace associated to his friendship with the late convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Following one of the tumultuous days within the fashionable historical past of Britain’s royal household, the previous Prince Andrew is again at his new residence on the Sandringham property, King Charles III ‘s non-public retreat, which is round 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of London.
Police have concluded their search at Wooden Farm, the place Mountbatten-Windsor resides whereas ready for his new residence close by, Marsh Farm, to be prepared.
They’re nonetheless looking out Royal Lodge, his 30-room former residence within the parkland close to Windsor Fortress, simply west of the capital, the place the king’s youthful brother had lived for many years till his eviction earlier this month. Unmarked vans, believed to be police autos, have been coming into the grounds all through Friday morning.
Mountbatten-Windsor, who was pictured slouched behind his chauffeur-driven automobile following his launch Thursday night from a police station close to Sandringham, stays below investigation, which suggests he has neither been charged nor exonerated by Thames Valley Police, the pressure accountable for areas west of London.
Arrest was years within the making
His arrest follows years of allegations over his hyperlinks with Epstein, who took his personal life in a New York jail in 2019. The accusation on the coronary heart of his arrest is that Mountbatten-Windsor — who was generally known as Prince Andrew till October when his brother stripped him of his titles and honors and banished him from Royal Lodge — shared confidential commerce data with the disgraced financier when he was a commerce envoy for the U.Okay.
Particularly, emails launched final month by the U.S. Division of Justice appeared to indicate Mountbatten-Windsor sharing experiences of official visits to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore.
One, dated November 2010, seemed to be forwarded by Andrew 5 minutes after he had acquired it. One other a couple of weeks later appeared to indicate him sending Epstein a confidential temporary on funding alternatives within the reconstruction of Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Thames Valley Police has beforehand mentioned it was additionally reviewing allegations {that a} girl was trafficked to the U.Okay. by Epstein to have a sexual encounter with Andrew. Thursday’s arrest had nothing to do with that.
Different police forces are additionally conducting their very own investigations into Epstein’s hyperlinks to the U.Okay., together with the evaluation of flight logs at airports, giant and small.
Mountbatten-Windsor has persistently denied any wrongdoing in his affiliation with Epstein however has not commented on the newest allegations which have emerged with the discharge of the so-called Epstein recordsdata.
Arrest was sudden, investigation will take time
Police swept into the grounds of Mountbatten-Windsor’s residence to arrest him at 8 a.m. Thursday — his 66th birthday — earlier than taking him to Aylsham police station for questioning.
It isn’t recognized what he instructed them. He might have mentioned nothing, or “no comment,” as is his proper.
Specialists mentioned that misconduct in a public workplace is notoriously tough to show.
“Firstly, it must be determined if Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was in a role within government that constitutes the title of public officer,” mentioned Sean Caulfield, a legal protection lawyer at Hodge Jones & Allen. “There is no standard definition to clearly draw on.”
Britain’s then-Prince Andrew (middle) and his daughters Princess Eugenie (left) and Princess Beatrice depart Westminster Abbey after the marriage of Prince William to Catherine Middleton, in London, April 29, 2011.
Gero Breloer/AP
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Gero Breloer/AP
The Crown Prosecution Service will finally decide about charging Mountbatten-Windsor, who stays eighth in line to the throne.
Andrew Gilmore, a associate at Grosvenor Regulation, mentioned that prosecutors will apply the two-stage take a look at generally known as the “Code for Crown Prosecutors.”
“That test is to determine whether there is a more realistic prospect of a conviction than not based on the evidence and whether the matter is in the public interest,” he mentioned. “If these two tests are met, then the matter will be charged and proceed to court.”
Arrest isn’t just uncommon, it is historic
Mountbatten-Windsor was the primary royal since King Charles I almost 4 centuries in the past to be positioned below arrest. That changed into a seismic second in British historical past, resulting in civil warfare, Charles’ beheading and the short-term abolition of the monarchy.
His arrest is undoubtedly one of many gravest crises to have an effect on the Home of Windsor since its institution greater than 100 years in the past. Arguably, solely the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936, and the demise of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, have been as grave for the establishment of the British monarchy in fashionable instances.
Although the king and the royal household will perform their regular duties as regular, the questions surrounding Mountbatten-Windsor will proceed, not least as a result of the investigations are prone to take time.
In an announcement Thursday, the king mentioned the “law must take its course,” but that as “this course of continues, it could not be proper for me to remark additional on this matter.”
The allegations will not be associated to Epstein’s intercourse trafficking
The allegations being investigated Thursday are separate from these made by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked to Britain to have intercourse with the prince in 2001, when she was simply 17. Giuffre died by suicide final yr.
Nonetheless, Giuffre’s sister-in-law Amanda Roberts mentioned that she was overjoyed when she obtained a telephone name at 3 a.m. telling her the information of the arrest. However these emotions of elation have been shortly difficult by the belief that she could not share the sentiments of “vindication” with Giuffre.
“We can’t tell her how much we love her, and that everything that she was doing is not in vain,” Roberts added tearfully.
