Search warrants used against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were unlawful, a London judge has said, after Thames Valley Police agreed to their cancellation following searches of two of his properties.
Justice Nicholas Hilliard said the force had made a significant error when applying for the warrants. The agreement to quash them was reached before a High Court hearing on Thursday.
Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, was arrested on February 19 on suspicion of misconduct in public office and released under investigation after being questioned by police for 11 hours. He has not been charged or exonerated.
His lawyers had asked the High Court to invalidate the warrants used to search his homes and seize property. Mountbatten-Windsor was not present at Thursday’s hearing.
A lawyer from Howard Kennedy, identified as Stephens, described the hearing as a preliminary stage in a wider legal battle over the investigation.
“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.”
Thames Valley Police said the decision did not determine the merits of its ongoing inquiry.
“The agreement that led to the quashing of the warrants relates specifically to a decision made by the court regarding the legal basis for these and is not a judgement on our ongoing investigation,” a force spokesperson said.
Investigation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor
The investigation initially centred on allegations that Mountbatten-Windsor shared sensitive information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a UK trade envoy. Police later said they could consider other matters.
It was the first arrest of a senior British royal in nearly four centuries. Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein, the late sex offender, have caused difficulties for the royal family for more than a decade.
King Charles III stripped his younger brother of his princely title last year as he sought to protect the rest of the royal family from the continuing fallout. Mountbatten-Windsor is still receiving a stipend from the King’s private funds, but Buckingham Palace has said that money cannot be used to finance his legal challenge.
The allegations became public after the US Justice Department released millions of pages of documents from its investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking and his connections to wealthy and powerful figures.
Mountbatten-Windsor was forced to give up his role as the UK’s special trade envoy in 2011 after lawmakers questioned his relationship with Epstein. In 2019, an interview with the BBC failed to explain his continuing ties to Epstein and ended his career as a working member of the royal family.
