Police search warrants for former Prince Andrew deemed unlawful
LONDON — Police who searched the properties of the former Prince Andrew and seized his property in the investigation into his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have agreed the search warrants were unlawful, a London judge said Thursday, reports BritPanorama.
Justice Nicholas Hilliard stated that the Thames Valley Police had made a significant error in applying for the warrant when they searched the properties of the former prince now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on February 19, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, leading police to search two of his homes. His lawyers requested the High Court judge to invalidate the warrants used for those searches.
Hilliard noted that the parties had agreed to invalidate the warrants prior to the hearing on Thursday.
Mountbatten-Windsor was not present for the hearing.
Stephens, of the Howard Kennedy firm in London, described the hearing as a preliminary skirmish in a broader legal battle. “It’s the first step of Prince Andrew and his lawyers saying, ‘Actually, this is tainted evidence. It was obtained inappropriately,’” Stephens said. “Therefore it should be excluded from any criminal trial.”
King Charles III stripped Mountbatten-Windsor of his princely title last year, aiming to shield the royal family from the repercussions of his younger brother’s connection to Epstein.
While Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, continues to receive a stipend from the king’s private funds, Buckingham Palace has clarified that those funds cannot be used to contest the search warrants.
The police investigation began with allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor provided sensitive information to Epstein when he served as the U.K. trade envoy, although the police have since indicated they may explore additional issues.
After questioning Mountbatten-Windsor for 11 hours, police released him under investigation, meaning he was neither charged nor cleared of wrongdoing.
This incident marks the first time in nearly four centuries that a senior British royal has been arrested.
The accusations against Mountbatten-Windsor surfaced following the release of millions of pages of documents by the U.S. Justice Department related to its investigation of Epstein and his connections to influential figures worldwide.
For more than a decade, Mountbatten-Windsor’s ties to Epstein have remained a source of embarrassment for the royal family.
Concern over his relationship with Epstein dates back to 2011, when the then-prince was compelled to relinquish his role as the U.K.’s special trade envoy. Eight years later, he struggled to justify his ongoing connections to Epstein during a widely criticized BBC interview, which effectively ended his career as a working member of the royal family.
