{"id":497360,"date":"2026-05-22T11:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/497360\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:51:08","slug":"uk-police-engage-with-lawyer-for-woman-claiming-she-was-trafficked-to-former-prince-andrew-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/497360\/","title":{"rendered":"UK police \u2018engage with\u2019 lawyer for woman claiming she was trafficked to former prince Andrew \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The police force covering the former home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor<\/a> has said it has \u201cengaged with\u201d lawyers for a woman claiming to have been trafficked for sex with the former prince, while also still pursuing an investigation for misconduct in public office.<\/p>\n

The news marks the first update by Thames Valley Police on its twin investigations since the force arrested Mountbatten-Windsor at his new home at Sandringham in Norfolk in February over the misconduct claims.<\/p>\n

The force had previously said it was \u201creviewing\u201d claims by Florida-based lawyer Brad Edwards that one of his clients said she had been trafficked in 2010 to Royal Lodge, then Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s home in Windsor Great Park, for a sexual encounter when she was 20.<\/p>\n

The update, made public on Friday, said the review was continuing but made it clear they had not yet spoken to the alleged victim.<\/p>\n

The force said: \u201cWe have engaged with the woman\u2019s legal representative to confirm that, should she wish to report this to police, it will be taken seriously and handled with care, sensitivity and respect for her privacy and her right to anonymity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any sexual wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

The former prince moved in early February from Royal Lodge to a cottage in the grounds of the royal family\u2019s private Sandringham estate, where detectives arrested him later that month over the misconduct allegations.<\/p>\n

Oliver Wright, Thames Valley Police assistant chief constable, said the misconduct in public office investigation \u2013 separate from the review of the trafficking allegations \u2013 was \u201ccontinuing\u201d.<\/p>\n

The investigation relates to Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s period as a special representative for UK Trade and Investment between 2001 and 2011. He has never specifically commented on the allegations of misconduct in public office. But he has previously insisted his focus while trade representative was on serving the national good and there was no wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Wright said: \u201cMisconduct in public office is a crime that can take different forms, making this a complex investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The assistant chief constable gave no timeline for the conclusion of the investigation.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cOur team of very experienced detectives are working meticulously through a significant amount of information that has come in from the public and other sources. We are committed to conducting a thorough investigation into all reasonable lines of inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thames Valley Police\u2019s assessment of the trafficking claims and its misconduct in public office investigation are among a series of inquiries by UK police forces resulting from the US justice department\u2019s release of about three million files relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n

London\u2019s Metropolitan Police in February arrested Peter Mandelson<\/a>, the former UK ambassador to the US, on suspicion of misconduct in public office based on revelations from the files. Mandelson has denied any impropriety and his lawyers have insisted the arrest was unnecessary.<\/p>\n

The National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council also continues to co-ordinate investigations into whether Epstein trafficked women through various UK airports.<\/p>\n

Surrey Police, a neighbouring force to Thames Valley, on Tuesday said it was investigating two separate allegations of \u201cnon-recent child sexual abuse\u201d resulting from revelations in the Epstein files. It gave no indication of who the suspects in those cases might be. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The police force covering the former home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has said it has \u201cengaged with\u201d lawyers for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,15098,11,12,15,16,5,42438,15156,7,8],"class_list":["post-497360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-peter-mandelson","tag-prince-andrew","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116618087988239772","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}