The head of London’s Metropolitan Police has called on United States officials to provide full, unredacted access to documents linked to the Jeffrey Epstein case, as British investigations into high-profile figures continue.
Speaking in an interview with ABC News’ chief investigative correspondent Aaron Katersky, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley confirmed that discussions are underway with the US Department of Justice to obtain original materials connected to inquiries involving Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former British ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson.
Rowley stressed the importance of accessing complete evidence should the investigations progress to court proceedings.
“Of course, there’s a big body of that evidence… in the United States in all those files and at some stage we’re going to need the unredacted evidence,” he said. “We need the original copy and where did it come from and that’s going to be necessary if we get to the stage of court cases.”
UK Investigators Examine Epstein-Linked Communications And Allegations
While US authorities have maintained there is no further avenue for investigation into Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, UK officials are pursuing separate inquiries into potential misconduct in public office involving Mountbatten-Windsor and Mandelson.
Previously released emails from the Department of Justice suggested that both men may have shared sensitive information with Epstein during their time in government roles. One such email referenced by Rowley indicated that Mandelson appeared to confirm details about a forthcoming financial bailout during the European Union’s sovereign debt crisis.
“It looks like it was shared with Epstein so we’re looking at that as to whether that’s a criminal offense and then colleagues in Thames Valley are looking at other documents that Andrew Mountbatten-Winsor potentially shared,” Rowley said.
The Metropolitan Police is also reviewing “a whole range of suggested sexual allegations” to assess whether any meet the threshold for criminal investigation.
Past Allegations And Evidence Reviewed By Metropolitan Police
Scrutiny of Mountbatten-Windsor intensified following the circulation of a photograph showing him with Virginia Giuffre, who stated she was 17 at the time.
Before her death last year, Giuffre alleged she had been trafficked by Epstein in 2001 to have sex with the former prince. He has consistently denied the claims, describing them in a 2019 BBC interview as not credible.
Rowley said the Metropolitan Police had previously conducted four recorded interviews with Giuffre but found no basis for pursuing a case in the UK.
“With Virginia Guiffre, we did four of those interviews with her … and those interviews didn’t give us any evidence or any allegations of sexual offending or trafficking that we could investigate in the UK,” he said. “That’s why that investigation didn’t go forward.”
Despite this, Rowley expressed hope that renewed scrutiny would reinforce public confidence in law enforcement’s impartiality.
“Those investigations all go wherever the evidence takes them — quite comfortable with investigating sort of famous or powerful people. I think it’s really important for policing to do that, that sense of operating without fear or favor. The law applies equally to everyone, and those cases will go, say, wherever the evidence leads us to,” he said.
Metropolitan Police Focus On Public Trust, Crime Reduction And Technology
Rowley linked the current investigations to a broader effort by the Metropolitan Police to tackle sexual and domestic violence more proactively.
“We’ve developed tactics to be much more proactive and targeting the most dangerous men who pose a threat to women and children just like we do terrorists and organized crime. So, a combination of factors has seen the rates steadily coming down,” he said.
“We’re making big progress and most of all — at the center of all this that matters to me and matters to policing — is trust in the police’s building in London.”
He also highlighted the use of technologies such as facial recognition to identify offenders while limiting wider intrusion on the public. Acknowledging privacy concerns, Rowley maintained that such tools are applied with a focus on preventing serious crime.
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“[Policing] should start from the idea of having the consent of people in a democracy and use the minimum force necessary and be focused on the prevention of crime, and those ideas still guide us today,” he said.
Rowley added that transparency — from addressing everyday crime to examining allegations involving prominent individuals — is central to maintaining confidence in policing.
“Policing in the UK will operate without fear or favor, that’s the fundamental principle. I think if you don’t have that, you’re never going to have the trust and confidence of the public in policing, so that’s really important to me,” he said.
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