Ex-Home Secretary Priti Patel ‘blocked FBI from interviewing Prince Andrew over Epstein’
A former Tory Home Secretary prevented US authorities from interrogating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor about his connections to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Mirror.
Dame Priti Patel was in office in 2020 when the US Department of Justice formally requested that Mountbatten-Windsor be “compelled” to discuss his relationship with Epstein. A “Request for Assistance” sent to the Home Office indicated that FBI agents had documentary proof suggesting the then-Duke of York was aware of the disgraced financier’s crimes.
If he refused to voluntarily participate in an interview, the letter stated, “US authorities request that UK authorities conduct a compelled interview of the witness under oath.”
The Daily Mirror disclose that this did not occur after the request, made under the mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT), was blocked by Ms Patel, who is now shadow foreign secretary.
When asked if she acknowledged it was her decision not to approve the request, a Tory spokesman said: “In any such matter, the steer from Government Legal Advisers will be crucial in how to respond. In the years since this matter was raised, further information about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has come to public attention.”, reports the Mirror.
“It is right that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor now faces the appropriate scrutiny from the authorities. Our thoughts remain with the victims of Epstein and his network.”
At the time of the request, the FBI was investigating British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell over allegations she trafficked women for Epstein. The former US attorney who spearheaded the investigation has previously accused UK authorities of protecting the ex-prince from his inquiry.
In 2022, Geoffrey Berman wrote: “Because of our very good relations with the UK and Scotland Yard, we almost always got what we asked when we put in an MLAT request. And I think they got the same from us. But that was not what happened with Prince Andrew. We got absolutely nowhere. Were they protecting him? I assume someone was.”
Under the mutual assistance treaty, each country can request cooperation to secure testimony from witnesses abroad, if necessary on a compulsory basis via a court order. It is understood that a specialist unit of Home Office civil servants was responsible for processing the request.
Following their recommendation, the final ruling is made by the Home Secretary. Details of the UK’s refusal to assist the investigation emerge as the Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley this week visited the US in an attempt to gain access to uncensored material from the Epstein files.
UK detectives believe it could contain potential evidence about Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson’s connections to the American sex offender. Emails released earlier this year appear to show both men shared sensitive information with Epstein. The former prince and the ex-Cabinet minister were both nicked on suspicion of misconduct in public office following the release of the files. Both gents have denied any wrongdoing. Officers are scrutinising the material to determine whether those exchanges veered into criminality.
Detectives are also evaluating sexual allegations from the files to decide whether any warrant a new criminal investigation. Prior to her death last year, Epstein’s “teen sex slave” Virginia Giuffre claimed she was trafficked by the billionaire financier to sleep with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17. The former royal has consistently refuted her claims.
Solicitor Radd Seiger told the Mirror that Ms Patel informed him in January 2020 she wouldn’t allow the US to speak to Andrew if Anne Sacoolas wasn’t sent to the UK over the death of Harry Dunn. Mr Seiger, who was representing Harry’s family, told the Mirror: “Ms Patel must have blocked the request [to interview Andrew]. I feel slightly guilty now as you can imagine.
“These two cases should never have been conflated and should stand on their own two feet. Andrew should go over to the US to assist the authorities with their inquiries. If he genuinely cares about the victims as he says he does he must go and help.”
