Andrew’s protection officers urged to come forward with what they ‘saw or heard’
The former prince was held in custody on Thursday following accusations he shared sensitive information with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein during his time as the UK’s trade envoy.
Detectives have urged Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former close protection officers to “consider carefully whether anything they saw or heard” is relevant to their investigation into paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
The Metropolitan Police said it was also working with counterparts in the US to establish whether London airports had been used to “facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation”.
On Friday, the force said no new reports of alleged sexual offences have been made since the release of millions of pages of documents related to Epstein by the US Department of Justice.
It comes as searches of Andrew former home in Berkshire are to continue until Monday following his misconduct in public office arrest.
The former prince was held in custody on Thursday following accusations he shared sensitive information with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein during his time as the UK’s trade envoy.
Andrew, who is the first senior royal in modern history to be arrested, was held for around 11 hours on his 66th birthday before he was released under investigation by Thames Valley Police.
Searches at Royal Lodge in Windsor are likely to continue over the weekend until Monday.
It is understood the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are yet to provide any “early investigative advice” to the force.
On Friday, a helicopter circled Royal Lodge with unmarked vans, believed to be police vehicles, entering the grounds throughout the morning.
A police presence remained at the Sandringham Estate but searches of Andrew’s Norfolk home concluded on Thursday.
The arrest of the King’s younger brother made headlines across the world, including a picture of him looking drained and exhausted, slouched in the back of a vehicle leaving Aylsham police station.
US President Donald Trump described the news as “very sad” and “so bad for the royal family”.
Police have been reviewing allegations against Andrew after emails released by the US Department of Justice appeared to show him share reports of official visits to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore with Epstein.
One email from November 2010 appeared to be forwarded to Epstein by Andrew five minutes after he was sent it by his then-special adviser Amir Patel.
Another the following month appeared to show Andrew sending a confidential brief on investment opportunities in the reconstruction of Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Andrew has denied any wrongdoing over his Epstein links, but has not directly responded to the latest allegations.
It is understood that neither the King nor Buckingham Palace had been informed before the arrest on Thursday morning.
However, the Home Secretary was alerted to the arrest shortly before Andrew was taken into custody, it is understood.
Thames Valley Police denied briefing the Home Office before the arrest, but issued a statement from the National Police Chiefs’ Council to clarify that the NPCC did so.
After the arrest, Charles released a statement, which is understood to have been supported by the Prince and Princess of Wales, saying: “The law must take its course.”
Both the King and Queen, who carried on their duties as normal after the news, did not answer questions posed to them about Andrew during engagements in London on Thursday.
The family of convicted sex trafficker and Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell said they were “astonished” at Andrew’s arrest, and called for “transparency” and “evidence”.
Andrew became the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment in 2001.
He stepped down in 2011 amid the furore over his friendship with paedophile Epstein.
Political figures have said that the former prince’s place in the line of royal succession should be considered by parliament.
UK Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said the monarchy will want to ensure the former prince, who is still eighth in line to the throne despite having lost his title, cannot become king.
An act of Parliament would be required to remove Andrew from the line of succession.
“The most important thing right now is that the police be allowed to get on with their job, acting without fear or favour,” Sir Ed said.
“But clearly this is an issue that Parliament is going to have to consider when the time is right, naturally the monarchy will want to make sure he can never become king.”
Recent YouGov polling shows the majority of Britons (82 per cent) think the former prince should be removed from the line of succession, just six per cent believed he should not.
It comes as the advisory firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson has collapsed into administration, in the fallout from the scandal surrounding his historical links to Mr Epstein.
Global Counsel said it had stopped trading and that the majority of its roughly 80 UK staff have been made redundant.
Administrators at Interpath have been appointed for the London-based lobbying business, which said it suffered a significant financial impact from a swathe of customers cutting ties with the firm.
This left directors with no choice but to bring in administrators, it said, despite the firm recently saying that Lord Mandelson no longer had any role or influence over it.
It is reported that Barclays, Tesco and Klarna were among those to recently end contracts, while Vodafone put its one under review, after the so-called Epstein files were released by US authorities.
Will Wright, UK chief executive of Interpath and joint administrator, said: “While Global Counsel had grown over the past 15 years to become one of the UK’s leading public affairs consultancies, the rapid and sudden loss of clients over recent weeks has had a monumental impact on the business.”
Steve Absolom, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, said: “Our immediate focus is on supporting the talented and loyal UK team of Global Counsel employees who, having collectively built a market-leading business, now sadly find themselves having to be made redundant.”
Administrators said they were considering their options for the business and reviewing its assets.
Earlier this month, Global Counsel said it had cut ties with Lord Mandelson and announced the departure of its boss Benjamin Wegg-Prosser.
It stressed that Lord Mandelson no longer had any shareholding, role or association with the company – and no influence over the firm.
But the business continued to come under pressure from its association to the former politician and US ambassador and the ongoing scrutiny.
Lord Mandelson co-founded the firm with Mr Wegg-Prosser in 2010 after Labour lost the general election.
He stepped down from its board about two years ago.
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