Police investigations into the Epstein files send the “right message” that “no one is above the law”, the Metropolitan Police commissioner has told Sky News.
In a wide-ranging interview about violence against women and girls (VAWG) marking five years since the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, Sir Mark Rowley said “it helps take the agenda forward because so much sexual offending is about power”.
“I think it’s been very clear that regardless of your power, regardless of position, you’ll be confronted if you’re a sexual offender”, he said.
Nine UK police forces, including the Met, have launched inquiries relating to tens of thousands of documents released by the US justice department, connected to the convicted paedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
Asked about the prospect of investigating ‘without fear or favour’ royal protection officers who worked with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the commissioner told Sky News “wherever offending sits, we will go after it”.
The Met previously announced that it had asked former and serving officers who may have worked with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to ‘consider carefully whether anything they saw or heard during that period of service may be relevant’ to their reviews. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on either the part of the officers or Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Read more from Sky News:
Wettest winter on record for parts of the UK, says Met Office
Do you want to ban kids from social media? The government is asking
‘I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong’: Bill Clinton releases video statement after Epstein testimony
Politics are laced through the Epstein affair – and why listening to the victims is so vital
Defence secretary orders search for record of Epstein trafficking women through RAF bases
The force is also assessing information regarding suggestions that London airports may have been used to facilitate trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested by a different police force, Thames Valley Police, relating to alleged misconduct in a public office. Being featured in the Epstein files does not imply any wrongdoing.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Helen Millichap, the national police lead for VAWG, told Sky News it is her “important task” to “make sure we don’t look away from this moment and our outrage.”
She added: “There is genuine outrage in society, and specifically outrage which is changing police culture”, she said, as part of a wider interview discussing police culture.
