Warrants Used to Search Andrew’s Homes Were Unlawful, Court Rules
The High Court has quashed the search warrants used by Thames Valley Police on two of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s homes at the time of his arrest in February, after the force accepted they were issued under the wrong section of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. The seized documents and devices remain with police, and the criminal investigation continues.
The error is technical and the consequence is not. Police applied under sections 8 and 9 of the 1984 Act; the Central Criminal Court decided only section 8 warrants were needed and granted them on that footing. The judicial review found section 9 was required — the route under which the issuing judge must consider legal privilege and special procedure material before anything is taken. In other words, no judge applied that test before documents and electronic devices left the premises, and that protection exists for everyone whose home or business is searched, not for one man in Norfolk. Mr Justice Nicholas Hilliard was careful to limit what he had decided: quashing the warrants “does not bring the investigation to an end or mean that the whole of the investigation is unlawful”, and on whether the material must go back, “there would be little point in handing property back if it could then simply be lawfully seized under some other provision”. Thames Valley Police accepts the court’s position and says proceedings continue over whether it can lawfully retain the material, with a further hearing listed for 2027. The underlying investigation concerns alleged misconduct in public office and arose after American court documents suggested confidential information was passed to Jeffrey Epstein while he was a trade envoy. He denies wrongdoing and was not in court.