London: In a major development, British King Charles III’s brother and former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office amid a probe into his links with disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It was “assessing” reports that the former UK Prince sent trade reports to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2010, the Thames Valley Police said.
“As part of the investigation, we have today (19/2) arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” the Thames Valley force said in a statement, without naming the suspect, as reported by News18.
“Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office. It is important that we protect the integrity and objectivity of our investigation as we work with our partners to investigate this alleged offence,” it added.
British prime minister Keir Starmer said Andrew was not above the law and repeated his previous suggestion that he testify before the US Congress over his connections with Epstein.
William was earlier stripped of his title of Prince, and moved out of his home in Windsor, UK to the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. The younger brother of King Charles III had lived at the 30-room Royal Lodge on the Windsor Estate for more than 20 years.
He left the Royal Lodge shortly after the US Department of Justice released three million pages of documents related to Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minor girls.
The BBC had earlier reported that William appeared to have shared confidential information with Epstein from his official work as trade envoy in 2010 and 2011, as per the material in the latest release of files by the US Justice Department.
Emails from the recently-released batch of Epstein files show the former prince passing on reports of visits to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam and confidential details of investment opportunities. Several photographa also allegedly showed Andrew in compromising positions with unknown women in Epstein’s New York City mansion.
Andrew’s links with Epstein grabbed the spotlight after Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims who died by suicide last April, alleged that the former prince had sex with her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein. An email seemingly sent by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s partner, included a photo of Andrew, allegedly with his arm around Giuffre.
Epstein also arranged for a 26-year-old Russian woman to meet Andrew, the files revealed. In an email dated August 11, 2010, Epstein told Andrew he had a friend named “Irina” who would be in London between August 20 and 24. Epstein described her as “26, Russian, clever, beautiful, trustworthy”.
Andrew invited Epstein to Buckingham Palace just a month after the latter’s house arrest ended, additional documents suggest. These claims directly contradict Andrew’s 2019 Newsnight interview, in which he said he met Epstein solely to end their association.
Andrew has, meanwhile, denied all wrongdoing and questioned the authenticity of the image with Giuffre. Meanwhile, Prince William and his wife Catherine have said they are “deeply concerned” by fresh revelations linking the former’s uncle with Epstein.
