Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has confirmed that his office is in active communication with the United States Department of Justice to obtain unredacted material from the files of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Rowley stated that the original, unredacted documents will be necessary if ongoing British criminal investigations reach the stage of court proceedings. He made the disclosure in an interview with ABC News approximately one month after the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner confirmed that the Metropolitan Police is conducting active investigations into two prominent British figures whose names appear in the Epstein files released by the United States Department of Justice: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles III, and Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the United States and former European Commissioner for Trade. Both individuals have been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and subsequently released pending further investigation. Neither has been charged nor exonerated.
Rowley stated that a significant body of relevant evidence resides in the United States within the Epstein file archive and that unredacted versions of those documents are required to establish the provenance of specific materials before cases can proceed to prosecution. He described the need for original copies as a prerequisite for potential court cases, framing the request to the Department of Justice as a standard evidentiary requirement rather than an extraordinary demand.
One of the documents that the Metropolitan Police has examined is an email released by the Department of Justice in which Peter Mandelson appeared to confirm the timing of an impending announcement relating to a European Union bailout during the bloc’s sovereign debt crisis. According to documents reviewed across multiple news organisations, Epstein wrote to Mandelson on 9 May 2010 referencing a 500 billion euro bailout, and the reply attributed to Mandelson appeared to confirm it would be announced that same evening, with Mandelson indicating he would telephone Epstein after leaving 10 Downing Street.
The European Union announced the 500 billion euro stabilisation fund on that date. Rowley stated that this email appeared to show the material had been shared with Epstein and that the Metropolitan Police is assessing whether the disclosure constitutes a criminal offense. Thames Valley Police is separately examining documents that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor potentially shared with Epstein during the period when Mountbatten-Windsor served as the United Kingdom’s trade envoy.
Rowley confirmed that the Metropolitan Police is also conducting a broader assessment of a range of sexual allegations connected to Mountbatten-Windsor to determine whether any of those allegations merit a formal criminal investigation. He acknowledged that the Metropolitan Police had previously conducted four interviews with Virginia Giuffre, the American woman who alleged that Epstein had trafficked her to engage in sexual activity with the former prince when she was 17 years old. Rowley stated those interviews did not yield evidence of sexual offending or trafficking that the Metropolitan Police could investigate within United Kingdom jurisdiction, and that this was the reason that particular line of inquiry had not proceeded. Giuffre died by suicide in 2025.
What is Jeffrey Epstein’s connection to the United Kingdom and why are British police investigating now
Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in a New York federal detention facility in August 2019, cultivated relationships with senior political, financial, and royal figures across multiple countries over several decades. Following his death, legal proceedings in the United States resulted in the conviction of his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell for sex trafficking in December 2021. The United States Department of Justice subsequently released several tranches of documents related to its Epstein investigations. The largest release, comprising more than three million pages, was made public in January 2026, triggering criminal investigations in the United Kingdom, institutional scrutiny across European Union member states, and a significant political crisis within the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The January 2026 document release directly implicated two senior British figures. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is the son of the late Queen Elizabeth II and the younger brother of King Charles III, who had already stripped Mountbatten-Windsor of his royal titles and removed him from his official residence at Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate prior to the arrest. Peter Mandelson is a longtime Labour Party political figure who served as a cabinet minister under both Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, as European Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008, and most recently as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States from February 2025 until his dismissal in September 2025 following earlier Epstein disclosures.
How Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested and what the misconduct in public office allegation involves
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on 19 February 2026 on suspicion of misconduct in public office following weeks of new revelations stemming from the Epstein files. He was held by Thames Valley Police for approximately 11 hours before being released under investigation, a status that means he has been neither charged nor exonerated. Searches were conducted at his former residence at Royal Lodge in Windsor and at his current home on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.
The allegations at the centre of the Thames Valley Police investigation relate to claims that Mountbatten-Windsor, while serving as the United Kingdom’s trade envoy in 2010, shared confidential government documents with Epstein.
Emails released by the Department of Justice appeared to show Mountbatten-Windsor forwarding to Epstein briefing reports from his official visits to Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China, as well as a confidential brief on investment opportunities. In one document, Mountbatten-Windsor appeared to seek Epstein’s views on investment prospects in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. In England and Wales, misconduct in public office is a common law offense that concerns serious wilful abuse or neglect of the powers or responsibilities of a public office held, and it carries a maximum possible sentence of life imprisonment.
The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor represented an unprecedented moment for the British institution of the monarchy. Mountbatten-Windsor became the first senior British royal to be arrested in nearly 400 years. King Charles III, in a public statement issued on the day of the arrest, said he had learned of the development with the deepest concern and affirmed that the law must take its course. The king also stated that the police have his full and wholehearted support and cooperation.
The Metropolitan Police’s assessment of sexual allegations connected to Mountbatten-Windsor is a separate investigation from the misconduct in public office inquiry being led by Thames Valley Police. The sexual allegations originate with claims made by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged she was trafficked by Epstein to have sexual encounters with the former prince on multiple occasions, including twice when she was 17. Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied all allegations connected to Epstein, including the sexual allegations advanced by Giuffre.
What evidence from the Epstein files led to Peter Mandelson’s arrest and investigation
Peter Mandelson was arrested by the Metropolitan Police on 23 February 2026 on suspicion of misconduct in public office amid an intensifying investigation following the Department of Justice’s release of millions of Epstein-related documents. Mandelson, aged 72, was filmed being led from his home in the Camden area of London by plainclothes Metropolitan Police officers before being taken to a London police station for interview. He was subsequently released on bail pending further investigation. The Metropolitan Police had previously conducted searches at two properties connected to Mandelson in the Wiltshire and Camden areas.
The documentary evidence under investigation relates principally to the period when Mandelson served as Business Secretary in the cabinet of Prime Minister Gordon Brown from 2008 to 2010. Email exchanges published as part of the Epstein files appeared to show Mandelson forwarding sensitive government material to Epstein, including an internal government report on post-financial-crisis funding options, correspondence relating to the design of a proposed tax on bankers’ bonuses, and an email exchange on 9 May 2010 in which Mandelson appeared to confirm the imminent announcement of the European Union’s 500 billion euro currency stabilisation fund. Documents also indicate financial transfers totalling approximately 75,000 United States dollars from Epstein to accounts connected to Mandelson or his partner between 2003 and 2004.
Mandelson had been dismissed as United Kingdom ambassador to the United States in September 2025 after a birthday book compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday was made public, in which Mandelson referred to the convicted sex offender as his best friend. Following the January 2026 document release, Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party and from the House of Lords. Mandelson stated in his resignation letter that he had no recollection of the payments attributed to him and did not know whether the relevant documents were authentic. He apologised to the women and girls whose allegations had not been heard sufficiently in earlier years.
The political consequences for the Starmer government were severe. Starmer had appointed Mandelson to the ambassadorial role in February 2025 despite the pre-existing knowledge of some degree of association between Mandelson and Epstein. After Mandelson refused to resign voluntarily, Starmer dismissed him, stating that the emails were reprehensible and that Mandelson’s responses to official questions were unsatisfactory. Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney subsequently stepped down, taking responsibility for the decision to appoint Mandelson to the ambassadorial post. The government has committed to releasing documents related to the appointment process, with the first tranche of materials expected in early March 2026.
How the European Commission and the European Union’s anti-fraud office became involved in the Mandelson investigation
The Mandelson affair acquired an additional European dimension as a result of his tenure as European Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008. The European Commission asked the European Union’s anti-fraud office, known as the European Anti-Fraud Office, to examine Mandelson’s conduct during his time as the bloc’s trade commissioner after further details of his links with Epstein came to light from the document releases.
The European Commission indicated the request was made on 18 February 2026 given the circumstances and the significant volume of documents in the public domain. Transparency International European Union separately called for an immediate investigation by both the European Commission and the European Anti-Fraud Office into whether Mandelson may have engaged in similar impropriety during his tenure as European Commissioner, stating that if the allegations were substantiated, they would constitute a textbook case of corruption at the highest level.
How the Metropolitan Police and the United Kingdom law enforcement community are coordinating the Epstein investigations
The United States Department of Justice has stated publicly that it considers there to be nothing further to investigate within the United States regarding Epstein and his co-conspirators. Despite that position, British law enforcement agencies have established a national coordinating group through the National Police Chiefs’ Council to manage and coordinate investigations across multiple United Kingdom police forces. The National Police Chiefs’ Council has confirmed it is working to coordinate information from overseas law enforcement agencies through approved international channels.
The Metropolitan Police has examined whether major London airports, including Heathrow, may have been used to facilitate human trafficking and sexual exploitation connected to Epstein’s network. The Metropolitan Police additionally asked past and serving protection officers who had worked with Mountbatten-Windsor to consider whether they saw or heard anything relevant to ongoing investigations. Multiple United Kingdom police forces, including Thames Valley Police, Norfolk Police, and the Metropolitan Police, are each running distinct but coordinated investigative threads.
Rowley described the Metropolitan Police’s approach to the Epstein-related investigations as consistent with a broader institutional commitment to targeting individuals who pose serious threats to women and children, applying the same proactive and intelligence-led tactics used against organised crime and counter-terrorism targets. He stated that policing in the United Kingdom operates without fear or favour and that this principle is fundamental to maintaining public confidence in law enforcement. Rowley framed the Metropolitan Police’s willingness to investigate prominent individuals, including members of the former royal family and senior political figures, as central to the institution’s mission to rebuild public trust in London policing.
Key takeaways on what this development means for the United Kingdom’s Epstein investigations, law enforcement institutions, and the political and diplomatic landscape
- Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has formally confirmed that the Metropolitan Police is in communication with the United States Department of Justice seeking unredacted Epstein files, citing the evidentiary necessity of original documents if criminal cases against Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor or Peter Mandelson proceed to court.
- Both Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson remain under active investigation in the United Kingdom for misconduct in public office following their respective arrests in February 2026; neither has been charged nor exonerated, and both deny the allegations against them.
- The Metropolitan Police is separately assessing a range of sexual allegations connected to Mountbatten-Windsor, distinct from the misconduct inquiry led by Thames Valley Police; a prior investigation involving Virginia Giuffre was not advanced due to insufficient evidence within United Kingdom jurisdiction.
- The United States Department of Justice has publicly stated there is nothing more to investigate stateside in connection with Epstein, a position that stands in contrast to the active and expanding United Kingdom investigations coordinated through the National Police Chiefs’ Council national group.
- The Mandelson affair has triggered a significant political crisis for the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, resulting in the departure of the chief of staff and the director of communications, and has prompted the European Commission to request that the European Anti-Fraud Office examine Mandelson’s conduct during his tenure as European Commissioner for Trade.
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