Andrew latest: latest news — Former prince released under investigation after nearly 12 hours in custody
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was released under investigation Thursday morning ET after spending almost 12 hours in police custody on suspicion of misconduct in public office linked to material from the Epstein files. The 66-year-old has denied any wrongdoing. The arrest and subsequent release have intensified a wide-ranging re-examination of the disgraced financier’s UK connections, including scrutiny of private flights and several police forces’ enquiries.
Custody, searches and the immediate fallout
Police detained a man in his sixties from Norfolk on Thursday morning ET and held him for close to 12 hours before releasing him under investigation. The investigating force said searches in Norfolk have now concluded. Photographs showed the former royal leaving a Norfolk police station and being driven away; he has consistently denied involvement in criminal conduct linked to the files.
The arrest was described by relatives of one of the late complainants as a significant development, and it has accelerated activity across multiple forces that are reviewing different strands of the material. The arrest notice cites suspicion of misconduct in public office, and the individual remains under investigation while inquiries continue.
Police forces widen probes; venues and flights come under renewed scrutiny
Authorities in several regions have opened or scaled up inquiries that touch on allegations contained in the files. At least nine police forces are now understood to be examining aspects of the material, with different teams focused on specific venues, alleged events and travel records. One force has been carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk in connection with those enquiries.
Separate investigative work has probed claims that the financier used private flights to move people to and from the UK. One analysis of aviation logs identified 87 flights linked to him that arrived at or departed from UK airports between the early 1990s and 2018, while other documents place the number at roughly 90. Those records have prompted forces in Essex, West Midlands, Bedfordshire and elsewhere to assess whether particular airports were used in trafficking or other offences.
Law enforcement in Essex is assessing material about private flights into and out of Stansted Airport after those flight logs were examined, and officials in other regions are checking records for airports including Birmingham, Luton and Edinburgh. A national metropolitan force has carried out initial enquiries into allegations tied to the protection detail that travelled with the former royal on overseas trips; those enquiries have not identified criminality to date but remain active.
What investigators are looking at and why Stansted is in the frame
Investigators are pursuing several concrete lines: claims that an alleged victim was brought to the UK for a sexual encounter; questions about whether sensitive information was shared while the individual served in official roles; and whether private-plane movements facilitated trafficking. The flight logs include many entries with unnamed passengers listed only as "female, " and that lack of detail has complicated efforts to trace individuals.
Stansted has become a focal point because private aviation operations at the airport are handled through independent fixed-base operators, which manage passenger processing outside the main terminal. That setup means private passengers generally avoid commercial terminals and use separate immigration and customs arrangements. Airport operations managers note they do not control passenger manifests for privately operated aircraft, which has implications for how straightforwardly investigators can trace movements and identify people travelling on such flights.
With multiple forces now coordinating different aspects of the material, investigators face the task of piecing together travel, venue and witness records that span decades. The release of the files has prompted renewed appeals for anyone with information about private flights, parties or travel to come forward to the relevant local police teams.
The investigation remains fluid: the individual released under investigation continues to deny wrongdoing, searches cited by police have concluded in at least one area, and units across the country are pursuing discrete lines of inquiry into flights and venues highlighted by the files. Expect more operational updates as enquiries progress and files are sifted for evidential leads.
