Reason police really applied for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor search warrant

Court documents have shed further light on the decision by Thames Valley Police to search the homes of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

The former Prince was arrested on 18th February - the day of his 66th birthday - on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. One day earlier, officers applied for a search warrant for his new home, Marsh Farm, on the King's Sandringham estate.

Last week, a High Court Judge ruled that the warrant had been issued unlawfully. But in new documents, senior officers revealed the reason that they felt the warrant was necessary.

In the formal search warrant application, seen by the Telegraph, an unnamed detective chief inspector (DCI) wrote: "There is legal ambiguity about AMW's status at Sandringham, a private estate belonging to the King.

"Whilst it is reasonable to assume, based on recent public statement (sic), that the Crown would grant access to the premises I have no way of any degree of certainty that AMW [Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor] or his legal representative will grant entry to the premises or, were they to do so, whether they would seek to frustrate certain elements of it."

The application also referred to the fact that Andrew had failed to co-operate with the US authorities when they had sought to investigate his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Officers were further concerned that the ex Duke would refuse them entry to his home because it belonged to the King.

"AMW is a nominated suspect in a number of serious offences. It is a matter of public record that he has previously not engaged with other investigative strands relating to his alleged involvement with Jeffrey Epstein.

"In addition, I consider that AMW, a staff member acting on directions from AMW or his legal team may request to see judicial authority before entry is gained (the scenario where AMW is not present but his legal team are).

"AMW or his legal team may seek to advance that the property belongs to someone else (the King) and that separate legal permission should be sought. This places matters potentially into the a (sic) consent scenario, but obtaining such consent may not be expeditious and seeking to do so in advance may frustrate the nature and purpose of the search."

Last week Andrew, who has denied all wrongdoing, won an admission from Thames Valley police that the search warrants were illegal. 

Judge Lucraft had agreed to grant the warrant but issued the wrong document, meaning the officers had no legal basis to seize the documents they were seeking.

Mr Justice Hilliard, a High Court judge, ruled the warrant unlawful - but he has allowed the police to hold on to the material they had seized until they had had a chance to make a fresh application.

Andrew interviewer Emily Maitlis reacts to latest developments

Meanwhile, lawyers in the US are following "all legal trails" pointing to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Emily Maitlis has said. 

Speaking to HELLO! during Wednesday's Power List at Mazarine, Mayfair, the journalist and broadcaster discussed the former Prince's legal action against Thames Valley Police over his arrest in February. 

She said: "I was in the US recently and I had very clear indications that Virginia [Giuffre] was not the only one who was pointing the finger at Andrew Mountbatten Windsor."

Emily, who famously interviewed Andrew for BBC Newsnight in 2019 before he stepped down from royal duties, said she hopes the latest developments will uncover "where the real abuse of power is", after police search warrants were found to be unlawful.

The Newsagents host continued: "It is fine if he wants to take the Thames (Valley) police to court, if it is fine if he thinks that there was, you know, an abuse of power in the way that they carried out their search of his home, but I think that we should concentrate on where the real abuse of power is and we should say, 'I don’t think this is the end of the story'."

Emily is currently working on a film with Channel 4, due out in December, alongside a narrative podcast for Global Studios about Epstein's ties to Britain. 

Andrew's calls to testify in the US

King Charles's younger brother has faced calls to give evidence under oath in front of Congress about his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Emily said: "I really hope that the systems, whether it’s the Met Police, whether it’s the courts of the law, whether it’s Congress in the US, whether it’s the administration in the US, actually realise that there is injustice here and they mustn't give up."

After Andrew was arrested in February, Democrat congressman Suhas Subramanyam, of the US House Oversight Committee, warned that "there will be accountability even if you hide, regardless of how rich and powerful you are", as he called upon the late Queen's son to testify.

As he is a non-US citizen, Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, are not compelled to appear before Congress. 

Sarah Ferguson's secret visits from 'embarrassed' daughters

Ever since she and Andrew were forced to move out of Royal Lodge, the former Duke's 30-room home in Great Windsor Park, Sarah Ferguson has managed to largely stay hidden from view. 

Earlier this year, she was spotted at a luxury Swiss clinic before taking refuge at the £15 million ski chalet belonging to her close friend and former boyfriend, Paddy McNally, whom she dated in the 1980s before she married Andrew.

But in another blow to Sarah, the Formula One tycoon died in July, at the age of 88, and Sarah has now moved back to a rented house in the Home Counties, outside of London. 

Sarah has had at least two visitors since then. Both Beatrice and Eugenie have visited their mother at her new rental, according to royal commentator Phil Dampier.

Speaking exclusively to HELLO!, he said: "Friends tell me they have both been to see her at her new house in the past couple of weeks. I don't think they want to be seen with her in public at the moment, and she probably realises it's not a good idea either, but behind the scenes they are talking and trying to be supportive." 

Phil continued: "They're very embarrassed and are obviously sort of reevaluating their own lives and their own contacts and the things they get involved with because they don't want to be tainted by scandal. But I don't think the relationship is quite as close as it used to be, certainly.

"I think the days of them being the tripod and inseparable have been fragmented. They have grown up and gone their own ways a bit, and they've got their separate lives and separate families."