Case Explained: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested latest: King Charles says ‘law must take its course’ after brother taken into custody – Legal Perspective

Gordon Brown says he has submitted more information to the police.

Responding to news of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest, the former prime minister said: “I have submitted a five-page memorandum to the Metropolitan, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and other relevant UK police constabularies.

“This memorandum provides new and additional information to that which I submitted last week to the Met, Essex and Thames Valley police forces where I expressed my concern that we secure justice for trafficked girls and women.”

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has routinely denied any wrongdoing in relation to his connections to Epstein.

But what is misconduct in public office and what has Mr Mountbatten-Windsor been accused of?

Read the full article here:

Deputy prime minister David Lammy has reiterated Sir Keir Starmer’s stance that “nobody in this country is above the law”.

Speaking to BBC News at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, he said: “As justice secretary – and as the prime minister has said – nobody in this country is above the law.

“And this is now a police investigation and that must happen in the usual way.”

Our political correspondent Athena Stavrou writes:

The government was asked last week if they would release files relating to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s role as a trade envoy early.

As it stands, files related to Mr Mountbatten Windsor’s time in the role will be sealed until 2065, 105 years after his birth.

Social Democratic and Labour Party MP Colum Eastwood asked the government in a written question last week if they would review the legislation that withholds the documents.

However, a minister replied to say the foreign office will continue to operate in accordance with “statutory obligations”.

In a post about his question following Mr Mountbatten Windsor’s arrest, Mr Eastwood said: “They declined but clearly that material should be made available to police.”

The Prince and Princess of Wales support the King’s statement following the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, it is understood.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home Royal Lodge is currently being searched by police officers, the BBC reports.

Thames Valley Police previously said that searches were being carried out at addresses in Norfolk and Berkshire.

The former prince resided at the Windsor estate for over two decades before he was forced to relocate to a smaller property on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk last month.

The BBC understands that the Grade II-listed 30-bedroom mansion is the only address being searched at the moment in Berkshire.

Uniformed police officers have been seen outside the property while Mr Mountbatten-Windsor remains in police custody.

Our crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin writes:

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest is unprecedented in recent royal history.

Police have the powers to hold the former prince for a maximum of 96 hours for questioning, though this would require multiple extensions from police and a magistrates’ court.

Although his sister, Princess Anne, became the first member of the royal family to be convicted of a criminal offence in 2002 after her English bull terrier, Dotty, bit two children in Windsor Great Park, she is not thought to have been arrested.

She was instead issued a summons to appear at court, where she pleaded guilty to a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act.She was fined £500 for the attack and ordered to pay £250 in compensation and £148 in costs at a magistrates’ court in Slough.

The district judge, Penelope Hewitt, spared Dotty’s life.

The year before she was also convicted of speeding in her Bentley, after admitting driving at 93mph in a 70mph zone in Gloucestershire. She was fined £400, ordered to pay £30 costs and given five penalty points on her driving licence.

In 2019, prosecutors decided it was not in the public interest to prosecute Prince Philip over a road crash near the Sandringham estate.

The then 97-year-old voluntarily gave up his driving licence after his Land Rover Freelander collided with another vehicle, leaving one woman with a broken wrist.

The last time a royal was arrested is thought to be several hundred years ago in 1647, when King Charles I was imprisoned by Oliver Cromwell following the civil war. He was tried and later executed for high treason.

Widely purported to have been the late Queen’s “favourite” child, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has suffered a sharp fall from grace over the past decade.

Thames Valley Police confirmed the arrest on Thursday following claims made against the former prince after the release of millions of pages of files related to Epstein, which included messages between the two sent months after Mr Mountbatten-Windsor claimed to have ended his friendship with the convicted sex offender.

Here, The Independent takes a look at a timeline of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s fall from grace and his retreat from the public eye.

“The pressure has been building so much over the last few weeks that you felt that something had to happen,” she said, though said she believed it would come in the form of police cars carrying out searches of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s properties, not an arrest.

“At last, today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,” Giuffre’s siblings said in a statement shared with CBS News.

“On behalf of our sister, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, we extend our gratitude to the UK’s Thames Valley Police for their investigation, and the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.”