How a photographer captured former prince Andrew leaving custody – The Irish Occasions

Slumped within the again seat of his Range Rover, a visibly shaken man stares forward of him because the automobile leaves Aylsham police station in Norfolk, England.

The {photograph}, taken by Reuters photographer Phil Noble, went viral when ‌it was printed late on Thursday. It exhibits Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the previous British prince, after he was launched from police custody following a day of questioning over ​allegations he despatched confidential authorities paperwork to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.

When information that Mountbatten-Windsor had been arrested broke early on Thursday, Manchester-based Noble started the six-hour drive south to Norfolk.

Journalists knew the previous prince had been arrested in Norfolk – the county that’s dwelling to the royal Sandringham property the place he resides. Since ​officers from Thames Valley Police – protecting southeast England – had been questioning him, there have been probably 20 or extra police stations the place he might have been held.

Following a tip, Noble ⁠headed to the police station within the historic market city of Aylsham.

[ Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor released after almost 12 hours of questioningOpens in new window ]

Not a lot was happening, Noble mentioned. There ‌had been ‌a ​couple of different members of the media there, together with Reuters video journalist Marissa Davison.

Six or seven hours glided by. Darkness fell. Still, nothing was taking place. It appeared like this was the unsuitable station – in spite of everything, ⁠it was nicely over an hour’s drive from ​Mountbatten-Windsor’s dwelling.

The crew of two Reuters journalists determined to guide rooms ​at a resort. Noble packed up and began heading down the highway in direction of it.

Minutes later, he obtained a name from Davison. Mountbatten-Windsor’s vehicles had ‌arrived.

Noble raced again, simply in time to see ​the 2 automobiles leaving, at excessive pace. The entrance automobile contained two cops, so Noble aimed his digicam and flash ⁠on the automobile behind.

He took six frames in ⁠all – two confirmed police, two ​had been clean, one was out of focus. But one captured the unprecedented nature of the second: for the primary time in trendy historical past, a senior royal was being handled as a typical prison.

The picture was used extensively by media worldwide.

“You can plan and use your experience and know roughly what you need to do, but still everything needs to align,” mentioned Noble. “When you’re doing car shots it’s more luck than judgment.”

He hadn’t seemed carefully on the former prince’s expression, the photographer added. He was simply relieved it was him.

“It was a proper old school news day, a guy being ‌arrested, who can we call, tracking ⁠him down,” he mentioned.

Mountbatten-Windsor, the second son of the late queen Elizabeth, has all the time denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, and has beforehand mentioned he regrets their friendship. The present police investigation, which isn’t associated ‌to any allegation of sexual impropriety, includes the suspicion of committing misconduct in public workplace, based on an announcement launched on Thursday by assistant chief constable Oliver Wright.

The ​former prince’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Thursday. He has ​not spoken publicly because the launch of hundreds of thousands of pages of paperwork by the US authorities referring to Epstein, who was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008. – Reuters