US won’t give unredacted Epstein documents to UK police without lengthy formal request

British police investigating the former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson are preparing to start interviewing witnesses in Royal and government circles.

It comes as police fear that prosecutors will be “reluctant” to bring charges unless the Trump administration agrees to hand over the original documents from the Epstein files.

The two police forces that have launched full criminal investigations as a result of revelations in the Epstein files have been in discussions with the special crime division of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which authorises criminal charges in England and Wales.

Thames Valley police is investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, King Charles’s brother, for misconduct in public office, over claims sensitive material was passed to Epstein while he was serving as a UK trade envoy.

The Metropolitan police is investigating the former Labour grandee Peter Mandelson for misconduct in public office over claims he passed on sensitive information while a cabinet minister to Epstein.

Both men have been arrested and released and are understood to deny wrongdoing.

So far, redacted documents relating to the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associates have been published on the US Department of Justice website.

The DoJ, seen as being under Trump’s control, has told British police it will not consider handing over the original documents without a formal request being made. That is a bureaucratic and lengthy process.

Efforts by British police – including informal requests to US officials by Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley – to get the documents without going through a mutual legal assistance request have been unsuccessful.

The Met has now sent a formal request to the US authorities for the original and unredacted documents from the Epstein files as part of their investigation into Mandelson, the former British ambassador in Washington.

One source said: “It is difficult to make anything stick without those documents. The US could have handed them over without making [British police] go down the formal route.”

A senior source added: “It is very difficult for [CPS] to authorise prosecutions with the material as it is.” Another source said: “A lot rests on having the originals. It makes it significantly more difficult.”

Formal interviews of witnesses in Royal circles and government circles are expected to start shortly as part of both criminal investigations.

For Mandelson it will be former and current senior people in government, including officials, and potentially including former prime minister Gordon Brown, who has already written to the Met about his concerns regarding Epstein.