Police in England acknowledge search warrants on ex-Prince Andrew in Epstein case were unlawful

Police in England who searched the properties of the former Prince Andrew and seized his property in connection with the Jeffrey Epstein case have acknowledged the search warrants were unlawful, a London judge said Thursday.

Lawyers for the former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, asked Justice Nicholas Hilliard to invalidate the warrants under which the searches were conducted. 

The High Court judge said Thames Valley Police had made a significant error in applying for the warrants and that the parties agreed to invalidate the warrants before the hearing Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Feb. 19 on suspicion of misconduct in public office, and police searched two of his homes in connection to the case.

The former prince had a personal relationship dating back to the late-1990s with Epstein, a wealth financier and convicted sex offender who died in a New York City detention center in 2019, while awaiting trial on related charges. 

Questions about their relationship intensified following allegations by Virginia Giuffre that she had been trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sexual relations with Andrew on three occasions in the early 2000s, beginning when she was 17. Andrew has denied the allegations. Giuffre died 2025.