By then, Andrew had been driven to Aylsham police station, a non-descript facility about 40 miles (64km) from where he was arrested.
It would have been up to the custody sergeant on duty to verify the suspect’s identity – which, in the circumstances, will not have taken long.
Andrew may well have gone through the same booking in process as anyone else – a mugshot, fingerprints, a DNA swab – though there are limited circumstances in which these steps can be skipped, primarily if a suspect is extremely vulnerable, and there is some leeway on how these procedures are applied.
It is not clear what Andrew’s guards would have been doing at this stage, or whether they would have accompanied him on the walk to his holding cell.
As the door on that cell swung open, Andrew would have seen a bare room containing little else but a bed and a toilet.
The Queen’s third child would have been offered something to eat and a change of clothes if he wanted them.
Andrew would then have had a decision to make: take the legal advice of the 24/7 local duty solicitor, or draft in his own lawyer. We do not know which he chose.
Next, he would have been taken to an interview suite to be questioned under caution by senior detectives, though details of that encounter will only ever become public should Andrew be charged with an offence.
