Judge says search warrants used to seize property from former Prince Andrew were unlawful
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.Justice Nicholas Hilliard said that the Thames Valley Police had made a significant error in applying for the warrants when they searched the properties of the former prince now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Feb.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 those searches were conducted.Hilliard said the parties had agreed to invalidate the warrants before the hearing Thursday.Thames Valley Police said it had accepted the fact that the warrants must be quashed because the initial court’s decision to issue them was incorrect.“Legal proceedings are currently ongoing to decide how material seized during the searches will be managed and whether we can lawfully retain it in support of our ongoing investigation,” the department said in a statement.”Mountbatten-Windsor was not in court for the hearing.Mark Stephens, of the Howard Kennedy law firm in London, described the hearing as a preliminary skirmish in the 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 as he sought to shield the rest of the royal family from the continuing fallout from his younger brother’s links to Epstein.While Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, continues to receive a stipend from the king’s private funds, Buckingham Palace has made it clear that those funds may not be used to fund his effort to challenge the search warrants.The police ...