Cops looking out Peter Mandelson’s homes in misconduct probe after Epstein recordsdata scandal
Peter Mandelson’s houses have been searched by cops probing misconduct in a public office in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Met Police officers are searching addresses in Wiltshire and Camden, north London, as part of an investigation launched into the disgraced Labour grandee.
The former UK ambassador to the US was reported to the police by MPs after he was accused of leaking sensitive information to paedo financier Epstein. Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has already ordered a probe into possible misconduct.
The Met Police confirmed they were searching a property in Camden and another in Wiltshire today after calls for Mandelson to face a probe over his involvement with the dead sex offender.
(Image: US Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hayley Sewart, of the Metropolitan Police, said: “I can confirm that officers from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime team are in the process of carrying out search warrants at two addresses, one in the Wiltshire area, and another in the Camden area.
“The searches are related to an ongoing investigation into misconduct in public office offences, involving a 72-year-old man. He has not been arrested and enquiries are ongoing.”
Two people believed to be police officers arrived outside Lord Mandelson’s house near Regent’s Park in central London on Friday afternoon. One of them appeared to be wearing a small body camera. They knocked on the door and entered the house.
(Image: Getty Images)
Three more people have since arrived at Lord Mandelson’s house near Regent’s Park in central London. It is not clear whether they are police officers.
It comes after the Met confirmed it was investigating the peer over allegations relating to files appearing to show him sharing government information with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein during the financial crash.
Mandelson was sacked from his US ambassador role last September, following the emergence of new emails revealing supportive messages he sent to Jeffrey Epstein after he pleaded guilty to sex offences.
(Image: US Department of Justice)
But the latest trove of documents released by the US Department of Justice have laid bare the extent of their relationship. And it has heaped pressure on the PM, who this week apologised to Epstein’s victims for “believing Mandelson’s lies.”
Documents released as part of the Epstein files led to allegations that while Lord Mandelson passed on market-sensitive information to the sex offender following the 2008 financial crisis, while he was business secretary.
Lord Mandelson has yet to speak publicly, but the BBC reported it understood he maintains he did not act criminally and that his actions were not for personal gain.
(Image: PA)
Sir Keir Starmer has come under increasing pressure over his decision to appoint him as Britain’s ambassador to the US after further details of Lord Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein have been revealed in the files.
The extent of what was known about the relationship is expected to be revealed when documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment are published following a motion in Parliament demanding their release.
Publication of the full tranche of documents could take some time, as Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee must review any items that the Government wishes to withhold for national security reasons.
The Metropolitan Police has also asked for some documents to be withheld, claiming it could jeopardise its criminal investigation.
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