A court in London has ruled that the search warrants used by police at two properties linked to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, were unlawfully granted. The warrants must be quashed, but the criminal investigation into the brother of King Charles III is not affected and continues.
Thames Valley Police carried out the searches in February at a home in Sandringham, in eastern England, and a former residence in Windsor, west of London. The operation followed Andrew's arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The police have not charged him. Andrew, 66, applied to have the warrants set aside, and the police accepted his argument. "We accept the position that the initial court's decision to issue warrants under the specific piece of legislation used was incorrect and therefore these must be legally quashed," a force spokesperson said. Dutch-language reports noted that the warrants were based on the wrong legal provision, and that police had already admitted errors in July without making this public. Andrew did not attend the hearing.
The ruling does not settle what happens to the material seized. Judge Nicholas Hilliard said at the High Court that police have asked to keep the items, which Andrew opposes, and that the question will not be resolved until next year. Police say nothing has been returned except items judged irrelevant to the inquiry. Legal proceedings are under way to decide how the material is handled and whether it can lawfully be retained. Andrew's lawyers are widely expected to try to keep any evidence from the searches out of a possible criminal case, although whether that argument will succeed remains unclear. Police stress the decision says nothing about his guilt or innocence.
The investigation concerns the period from 2001 to 2011, when Andrew served as Britain's trade representative. Police are examining whether he leaked confidential government documents to Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier and convicted sex offender who died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 in what was ruled a suicide. The inquiry began after the US Department of Justice released millions of Epstein-related documents. Misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and can cover offences ranging from sharing confidential information to corruption. Police have described the case as long and highly complex. Andrew denies wrongdoing and says he regrets his friendship with Epstein.
The arrest was reported to be the first of a senior royal in roughly 400 years, and it has left the royal family facing one of its most serious crises in decades. Andrew stepped back from royal duties in 2019 over his Epstein links and lost his titles and honours last October on the king's decision. A Buckingham Palace source said he has been told that private money from the king should not be used to fund his legal challenge. The ruling may be embarrassing for the police, but it leaves the central question of the investigation unresolved.