Inside police cells where Andrew was held for 12 hours: Footage from Norfolk station shows conditions former prince would have faced following his arrest
Footage from inside the police station where Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was held shows the conditions he was likely experiencing when he was taken into custody.
The disgraced former prince was interrogated for 11 hours at Aylsham Police Investigation Center yesterday after he was arrested on suspicion of abuse of public office.
Although no details about the process he went through were disclosed, photographs, fingerprints and DNA samples may have been taken.
He was probably offered a cup of tea and a phone call and treated like most people who are arrested.
A clip filmed at Aylsham police station in 2017 gives a new insight into the conditions Andrew was likely to have faced when he was detained there on his 66th birthday.
The footage was shot by BBC Look East to explain how police deal with drink-driving suspects, but the process is similar for anyone detained.
It all starts when a police car enters the police station through a large security gate. The suspect is then taken to the front desk and speaks with a detention sergeant.
They are placed in a small cell with only a bed and a thin blue mattress before the door is closed.
A clip filmed at Aylsham police station in 2017 gives a new insight into the detention conditions Andrew was likely to have faced when he was detained there on his 66th birthday
The clip begins with a police car entering the police station through a large security gate
Andrew left Aylsham Police Station after being released from custody on Thursday
The suspect is taken to the front office to speak with the custody sergeant.
Aylsham Police Investigation Center was built in 2011 on the site of the former former station.
It is a functional, high-capacity site containing private interview rooms and a series of holding cells.
Yesterday, retired Met Police sergeant Graham Wettone, author of How to Become a Police Officer, described the possible conditions Andrew experienced during his stay.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘It won’t be any bigger than a storage room in a three-bed semi.
‘There is no facility subject to preferential treatment in any detention room I have ever been in.
‘You can’t have a better room, you can’t get better food; You get what’s there. ‘In the microwave.’
Andrew was arrested shortly after 8am yesterday when police raided Wood Farm in Sandringham, Norfolk, where he had been living for the past two weeks.
He has since been released from custody, but his ordeal would begin with him being taken to an unspecified location for questioning.
He would first be brought before the supervising sergeant at the police station.
A view from inside one of the cells at the police station where Andrew is being held
In this photo, released as part of the Epstein files, Andrew is on all fours above a woman.
Aylsham Police Investigation Center was built in 2011 on the site of the former former station.
The arresting officer could have explained the reason for the arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Andrew must have heard the officer announce the time and place of arrest.
I asked Andrew, “Do you understand why you were arrested?” will be asked.
He will then be read his rights: the right to a lawyer, to receive free legal advice, and to notify someone of his arrest. This is usually a close relative.
If Andrew cannot call his own lawyer, he will have the right to speak to the duty lawyer.
They would then be called and given a medical and welfare evaluation.
Andrew was asked if he was taking medication, if he had any physical problems, and was asked a series of questions by the probation officer about whether he had any mental health problems.
He will also have been searched ‘extensively’, although it is unlikely that he will be strip searched due to the nature of the crime for which he was arrested as a suspect.
All belts, ties and shoelaces would probably be confiscated for his own safety and that of the police personnel.
Mr Wettone said: ‘When I was a probation officer I removed the shoelaces of everyone in custody, even though they posed no risk.’
Former Duke of York looked stunned after 11 hours in police custody
‘If you haven’t met them before, they’re in the box of being an unknown risk.
‘The only risk you can assess is the response they give you, and that may not be accurate.’
While some suspects were ordered to take off their clothes and put on a paper suit, Mr Wettone said Andrew probably would not need to do this because forensic evidence would not be needed in this case.
The cell itself would be empty as Mr Wettone said: ‘There’s a toilet and a mattress in your bed. There is nothing there.
The bed is actually a bench with a vinyl-covered mattress about knee height, about three inches thick. He will also be given a blue blanket to keep warm.
The toilet will be concealed by a half-height wall providing only a modicum of privacy – although modern detention suites already have CCTV.
Then the heavy door will slam shut behind him and Mr. Wettone will say: ‘They make a huge, loud noise when they cross.
‘It’s a lonely experience. It’s quite a balancing act because the door slams and you’re there on your own, with four walls to look at. There is no entertainment.
The vehicles appear to have arrived at the Royal Lodge at Windsor Castle in Berkshire on Friday morning.
Aerial view of police visiting the Royal Lodge in Windsor, Berkshire, on Friday
‘You don’t have your phone with you. If there is something you want to read, you normally have nothing to read other than the Code of Practice.
‘The cells are bare, there is nothing. You’re just sitting there in your clothes.’
Andrew’s older brother King Charles said ‘the law must take its course’ after expressing ‘deep concern’ about Thursday’s arrest.
Charles said he would give police his ‘wholehearted support and co-operation’ after his younger brother was arrested on suspicion of abuse of public office.
The Prince and Princess of Wales also support the King’s unprecedented statement following the arrest of William’s uncle Andrew at Sandringham on Thursday.
In a statement released by Buckingham Palace at midday, the King said: ‘I have learned with deep concern of the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and the suspicion of misconduct in public office.
‘What will now come is a full, fair and appropriate process to ensure that this matter is investigated appropriately and by the relevant authorities. As I said before, we have our full and wholehearted support and cooperation on this matter.
‘Let me be clear: The law must take its own course.
‘It would not be appropriate for me to comment further on this matter while this process is ongoing. In the meantime, my family and I will continue our duty and service to all of you.’
