Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Sues Police as Investigation Continues

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is suing the police force that arrested him, while that force says its criminal investigation of him remains active.

The former prince launched the legal action against Thames Valley Police over his February arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office, a British criminal offense for officials accused of abusing their position. Police questioned him for 11 hours before releasing him. He was released under investigation, a British status that means he was free to go but was neither charged nor cleared, according to The Associated Press.

The arrest centered on suspicion that he leaked government documents to Jeffrey Epstein, the late American financier and convicted sex offender, as reported by Reuters. His court challenge is proceeding as a judicial review, a court check on whether a public body followed the law in how it acted.

At the center of the challenge were searches of two properties in Norfolk and Berkshire. The High Court has quashed the search warrants granted on Feb. 18 that authorized those searches. The ruling came in an update published Oct. 8, according to Town & Country.

Thames Valley Police accepted that the lower court used the wrong legislation to issue the warrants. The force said the agreement to quash them concerned only that legal basis. It was not a ruling on the investigation itself.

A judge made the same distinction. The court ruled that quashing the warrants does not end the investigation and does not mean the whole investigation was unlawful.

What happens to the evidence is still undecided. Material seized during the searches remains in police custody. Further proceedings will decide how that material is handled and whether police can lawfully keep it to support the ongoing case.

What makes this procedural fight matter for readers in the United States is the split outcome. Mountbatten-Windsor won on the paperwork behind the searches. Police kept the larger investigation.