Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the previous prince who was stripped of his royal titles due to his hyperlinks to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, was launched from police custody on Thursday.
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Andrew was arrested earlier Thursday, his 66th birthday, on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace over allegations he despatched confidential authorities paperwork to Epstein.
He left Aylsham Police Station after roughly 11 hours in custody, the place he had been questioned all day by detectives from Thames Valley Police.
Thames Valley Police mentioned a person in his 60s from Norfolk in japanese England was arrested on Thursday. The power, which covers areas west of London, together with Mountbatten-Windsor’s former residence, didn’t establish the suspect — according to customary procedures in Britain — however pointed to the assertion when requested to verify if the previous prince was arrested.
In a followup assertion, Thames Valley Police mentioned the “arrested man has now been launched under investigation.”
Police mentioned that they had completed looking out Mountbatten-Windsor’s residence, however officers have been nonetheless looking out his former residence close to Windsor Fortress.
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A Reuters {photograph}, taken after Mountbatten-Windsor’s launch, exhibits him sitting low inside a automobile leaving the station close to his residence on the royal Sandringham Property.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, youthful brother of Britain’s King Charles, previously often known as Prince Andrew, leaves Aylsham Police Station in a car on the day he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace.
REUTERS/Phil Noble
Police beforehand mentioned they have been “assessing” stories that Mountbatten-Windsor despatched commerce info to Epstein, a rich investor and convicted intercourse offender, in 2010, when the previous prince was Britain’s particular envoy for worldwide commerce. Correspondence between the 2 males was launched by the U.S. Justice Division late final month, together with hundreds of thousands of pages of paperwork from the American investigation into Epstein.
Whereas Mountbatten-Windsor has persistently denied any wrongdoing in connection along with his friendship with Epstein, considerations about his hyperlinks to the late financier have dogged the Royal Household for greater than a decade.
On the time of Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest, Assistant Chief Const. Oliver Wright mentioned: “Following a radical evaluation, we’ve got now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public workplace.
“It is vital that we shield the integrity and objectivity of our investigation as we work with our companions to analyze this alleged offence,” he added.
“We perceive the numerous public curiosity on this case, and we are going to present updates on the applicable time.”
Hours after Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested, his brother King Charles II launched a press release, saying, “I’ve discovered with the deepest concern the information about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public workplace.”
“What now follows is the total, truthful and correct course of by which this challenge is investigated within the applicable method and by the suitable authorities,” Charles mentioned in a press release on Thursday.
“On this, as I’ve mentioned earlier than, they’ve our full and wholehearted help and co-operation. Let me state clearly: the regulation should take its course,” he continued. “As this course of continues, it might not be proper for me to remark additional on this matter.”
“In the meantime, my household and I’ll proceed in our obligation and repair to you all.”
Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest was the primary time in practically 4 centuries {that a} senior British royal was positioned under arrest, and it underscored how deference to the monarchy has eroded lately.
The allegations being investigated Thursday are separate from these made by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked to Britain to have intercourse with the prince in 2001, when she was simply 17. Giuffre died by suicide final 12 months.
Nonetheless, Giuffre’s household praised the arrest, saying that their “damaged hearts have been lifted on the information that nobody is above the regulation, not even royalty.”
The household added: “He was by no means a prince. For survivors in all places, Virginia did this for you.”
— With recordsdata from The Related Press
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