Partner Andrew Gilmore has provided comment in The Daily Mail, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post and The Associated Press on the legal next steps following the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Commenting on the challenge in prosecuting such cases, Andrew highlighted: “Misconduct in Public Office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment – however, in this case that maximum would be extremely unlikely. The offence is notoriously hard to prosecute, due to the number of different elements the prosecution are required to prove and the narrow definitions therein, applied by the Courts.

“The authorities will be looking to prove that Andrew was a public officer acting as at the time of the allegations, and that he wilfully neglected to perform his duty to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public’s trust in him as the office holder, and that he did so without reasonable excuse or justification.”

Andrew went on to discuss the CPS’ duties once it has received evidence, stating: “Once it has received evidence from the authorities, the Crown Prosecution Service will apply the two-stage test known as the ‘Code for Crown Prosecutors’. That test is to determine whether there is a more realistic prospect of a conviction than not based on the evidence and whether the matter is in the public interest. If these two tests are met, then the matter will be charged and proceed to Court.”

Andrew’s comments were published in The Daily Mail, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post and The Associated Press between 19 and 22 February. They were further published across national UK and US press, including The New York Post, The Washington Post and The Independent.