By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim
Former Duke of York, Prince Andrew, who is now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was arrested by police on 19 February 2026 over suspicion of misconduct in public office in relation to information that emerged from the US Department of Justice’s release on 30 January 2026 of 3 million files regarding the conduct of former financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison on 10 August 2019 while awaiting trial for alleged human trafficking and child sex offences.
Despite his association with Epstein, ‘Randy Andy’, as he was once known, was not arrested over long-term suspicions that he was involved in the former financier’s alleged sexual trafficking ring. Rather, Mountbatten-Windsor is being investigated over material that suggests he unlawfully abused his position as the British trade envoy by forwarding sensitive information to Epstein without authorisation.
Andrew served as the UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment from 2001 through to 2011. However, the Epstein Files, which feature King Charles’ younger brother cavorting with girls in their early teens, also contain Andrew providing sensitive details relating to his position over to the notorious billionaire paedophile, via the casual forwarding of official emails to Epstein.
This royal scandal has developed ever since Epstein and Mountbatten-Windsor were photographed strolling through New York’s Central Park together in 2011, and it’s become increasingly more extreme as facts continue to be revealed.
Andrew is the first British royal family member to have been arrested since King Charles I was in 1647 in respect of high treason.
Many commentators have been disappointed that Andrew has been hauled in over such unlawful conduct, rather than the child sex offences the Epstein ring are known to have engaged in.
Although that’s quickly been followed by the reasoning that at least some form of justice is being served by Andrew’s arrest, and misconduct in public office can often be quite a serious charge, as in Britian, it carries up to life imprisonment.
An offence against public justice
The offence of misconduct in public office, or malfeasance, is a common law offence in New South Wales.
Common law or judge-made law is a body of law that’s established via court precedents and decisions, and it differs from statutory law, which is passed by parliaments and contained in Acts of Parliament. A common law offence is a type of crime established via court decisions. The offence of misconduct in public office is a crime committed specifically by public officials.
The penalty for the offence of misconduct in public office in NSW is at large. This means that there is no defined maximum penalties or even a range for a judge to consult. Rather there is no limit placed on length of prison sentence and there is nothing to prevent a fine being imposed, or both punishments. This means that the crime can be extremely serious or quite a minor offence.
To show a public official has engaged in misconduct, prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they wilfully engaged in misconduct via an act or an omission and without reasonable justification. Further, the breach has to be serious enough to warrant criminal punishment, specifically because it involves a breach of public trust and abuse of official power.
Misconduct in public office is a public justice offence, which is a crime against the administration of law or court processes. Other such offences include contempt of court, perjury and perverting the course of justice and are treated very seriously by the courts.
Conviction in respect of misconduct in public office or even being charged with the offence can, and often does, have serious repercussions for a person’s career and personal life. Careers are often ended in respect of the sort of conduct that is captured under this law.
In the case of Andrew, sharing confidential UK government information with then convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein circa 2010, has obviously not been appreciated by British authorities.
The defences that apply to the common law offence
A number of basic common law defences are open for an accused to argue against a charge of misconduct in public office, which can include the official positing that they had no intention of receiving a benefit or causing a loss via their actions, or the conduct in question was not part of official duties, or that any influence wielded or details gained was not due to the official’s position.
Another common law defence is that of duress. This involves an accused claiming that the behaviour that triggered their charge was conducted in order to prevent a much greater harm threatened against them or their loved-one. The threat must be substantial enough to warrant the criminal behaviour perpetrated to avoid it.
The other available defence is that of honest and reasonable mistake of fact, which involves the public official putting to the court that they weren’t aware that their conduct had breached what was permissible behaviour for someone in their position, as they’d understood otherwise, and this must be shown to have been a reasonable belief, and if correct, their actions would have been legal.
The law comes crashing in
The arrest of Andrew by UK police on his 66th birthday came after prominent UK politician Peter Mandelson had to step down from the House of Lords in response to the revelations in the Epstein Files. And while multiple high-profile Europeans cited in the files are having to step down due to these revelations, no one is facing any music in the US, which is the centre of the scandal.
The confidential information that Mountbatten-Windsor shared with billionaire Epstein included visit reports on the Southeast Asian nations he was about to tour as trade envoy and a confidential brief produced by the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand Province for International Investment Opportunities.
The concerns are whether such information could have been used in insider trading or some other form of financial crime.
The police released Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after about 11 hours of questioning. He has still not been charged with any offence and investigations are continuing.
