LONDON — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, King Charles’ younger brother, is taking the police to court to challenge his arrest in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office, in the wake of information that emerged from the Epstein files in the United States.
Britain’s Judicial Office, part of the non-political civil service that supports the courts, said on Monday a hearing would take place on Thursday after the former prince sought to quash the search warrants that were issued as part of the arrest.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s lawyers are challenging the search warrants used in Sandringham and at Royal Lodge in Windsor relating to his arrest, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.
Thames Valley Police confirmed: “We are engaged in legal proceedings in relation to warrants previously obtained from the Central Criminal Court.”
“As these legal proceedings are currently ongoing, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further,” a spokesperson for the force that carried out the arrest said.
Mountbatten-Windsor, who lost his titles as a prince and Duke of York over his connections to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has lodged a judicial review, challenging the legality of the search warrants.
A court hearing will be held on Thursday afternoon to begin considering this bid to quash the warrants, with the hearing set to begin in private. The judge will initially hear a request by the police to keep some documents private.
The warrants had been issued by a judge at the Central Criminal Court on 18 February, the day before Mountbatten-Windsor had been arrested, and the legal challenge is against the chief constable of Thames Valley Police and the Central Criminal Court.
For several days after the arrest, police were seen searching Mountbatten-Windsor’s property at Marsh Farm in Sandringham and at his former home, Royal Lodge, on the Windsor estate.
The arrest, carried out on his 66th birthday, followed a series of revelations from the Epstein files, published by the US Department of Justice.
They included emails appearing to show official documents being shared by Mountbatten-Windsor with Epstein and others, at a time when he was the UK’s trade envoy.
Mountbatten-Windsor had already been stripped of his titles by King Charles, after emails had shown Mountbatten-Windsor had continued his links with Epstein, beyond when he had publicly said those links had been severed.
After Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest in February, he was taken to Aylsham police station. A photograph captured his departure later that day, looking exhausted, after he was released under investigation.
The launch of this legal action against the police over the search warrants is the first public pushback from the former prince, who has lost his home, titles and public status, with charities and businesses distancing themselves from him.
Thames Valley Police says its investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor is continuing.
In a previous update it said the force had been “working with the United States Department of Justice to get further information that may be related to this investigation”.
Detectives also highlighted that allegations of sexual misconduct could be considered as part of this inquiry into potential misconduct in public office.
Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any wrongdoing in his associations with Epstein.
Source: Saudi Gazette