LONDON — Police who searched former Prince Andrew’s properties and seized his assets as part of the investigation into his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein agreed the search warrants were unlawful, a London judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Nicholas Hilliard said Thames Valley Police 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, and police searched two of his homes. His lawyers asked the High Court judge to invalidate the warrants under which the searches were carried out.
Hilliard said the parties agreed to invalidate the warrants before Thursday’s hearing.
Mountbatten-Windsor was not in court for the hearing.
Stephens, of the Howard Kennedy law firm in London, described the hearing as a preliminary skirmish in the broader legal battle.
“This is the first step by Prince Andrew and his lawyers saying, ‘Actually, this is tainted evidence. It was improperly obtained,'” Stephens said. “He should therefore be excluded from any criminal trial.”
King Charles III stripped Mountbatten-Windsor of his princely title last year as he sought to protect the rest of the royal family from the continued fallout over his younger brother’s links to Epstein.
While Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, continues to receive an allowance from the king’s private funds, Buckingham Palace has made clear those funds cannot be used to fund his efforts to challenge the search warrants.
The police investigation initially focused on allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor shared sensitive information with Epstein when the former prince was a UK trade envoy, but police later said they may also look into other matters.
Police questioned Mountbatten-Windsor for 11 hours before releasing him under investigation, meaning he was neither charged nor exonerated.
It was the first time in almost four centuries that a senior British royal official had been arrested.
The allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor came to light as the US Department of Justice released millions of pages of documents from its investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking and his ties to a network of rich and powerful men around the world.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein have been a source of embarrassment for the royal family for more than a decade.
Lawmakers questioned that relationship as early as 2011, when the then-prince was forced to abandon his globe-trotting role as Britain’s special trade envoy. Eight years later, he failed to explain his continuing ties to Epstein in a disastrous interview with the BBC, effectively ending his career as a working member of the royal family.
Gn world
