Scotland Yard is under pressure to investigate Prince Andrew as newly-released court documents cited the royal and other high-profile figures connected to the late billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
King Charles is reportedly determined that there is “no way back” to public life for his younger brother in light of the US papers, which centre on testimony by the Duke of York’s accuser Virginia Giuffre and others questioned by lawyers.
Graham Smith, head of the anti-monarchy group Republic, said that he had reported Prince Andrew to the Metropolitan Police following the release of the first batch of documents. He accused the London force of failing to conduct a serious criminal investigation into Ms Giuffre’s allegations.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was asked on LBC whether the police should investigate the alleged sexual abuse by Andrew of Ms Giuffre in London in the early 2000s, when she was 17. The former Director of Public Prosecutions said: “Wherever there is a complaint made it is inevitable that it should be looked at. We have to start with the victims here and look at what allegations have been made.
“I’ve seen the headlines on this, not the detail,” Sir Keir added. “But, frankly, whoever it is, where there are credible allegations made, then of course they should be looked at.”
Scotland Yard said in August 2022 that it was taking no further action over the Epstein allegations and has previously defended its decision in 2015 not to investigate the claims by Ms Giuffre.
A Met spokesman said today: “We are aware of the release of court documents in relation to Jeffrey Epstein. As with any matter, should new and relevant information be brought to our attention we will assess it. No investigation has been launched.”
In the second set of 300 pages released by the US court last night, dating from a lawsuit that was later settled, Ms Giuffre is said to have described being trafficked to have sex with Prince Andrew and “two of the world’s most respected politicians”. In 2022, Prince Andrew settled a legal case with Ms Giuffre out of court, with no admission of liability. He denies all allegations against him arising from his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
The court documents were part of a 2015 defamation case brought by Ms Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, the disgraced British socialite who was convicted of supplying Epstein with under-age girls. She was jailed in New York for 20 years, but is appealing the conviction.
Maxwell had accused Ms Giuffre of lying, and the latest documents reveal efforts by her lawyers to substantiate the charge by portraying Epstein’s victim as motivated by money. The papers show Ms Giuffre trying to interest a literary agent in a manuscript she was writing called The Billionaire’s Playboy Club.
The agent was recommended to Ms Giuffre by Mail on Sunday journalist Sharon Churcher, whose reporting in February 2011 first revealed a photograph of Prince Andrew with his arm around a then 17-year-old Virginia Roberts (later Giuffre), taken at Maxwell’s home in Belgravia. In an email exchange with Ms Churcher in May 2011, Ms Giuffre spoke of her concerns about working with the magazine Vanity Fair after former US president Bill Clinton had allegedly “threatened them not to write sex-trafficking articles” about Epstein.
Ms Churcher replied that it would be a “gamble” for Ms Giuffre to give the magazine any further comment about how she was “sex-trafficked to PA and other men including two of the world’s most respected politicians”. The names of the politicians remain redacted. The reporter said it was a gamble because Epstein “knows some of the most powerful people in publishing and, once alerted, will inevitably try to scare off potential buyers. But the upside is it should help you get a good agent.”
Mr Clinton has conceded to travelling on Epstein’s private jet but says that he never visited his homes including one on a Caribbean island, and had no knowledge of his “terrible” crimes.
In the documents, Maxwell’s legal team also claim that Ms Churcher helped “concoct” sexual assault allegations against Andrew, including by encouraging Ms Giuffre to write a “completely fabricated” diary detailing her alleged encounter with the prince.
In 2015, Buckingham Palace “emphatically denied” that Andrew had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Ms Giuffre, branding the allegations “false and without foundation”. The denial was cited by Maxwell’s lawyers in the court papers to support their claims against the victim’s credibility.
In the first batch of some 1,000 pages released yesterday, the duke was alleged to have taken part in an orgy with under-age girls, and touched another woman’s breast while posing with a Spitting Image puppet of himself. He denied the allegations when they were aired previously.
Andrew stepped down from public life in late 2019 after a disastrous BBC interview about his friendship with Epstein. Three years later he paid a reported £12 million to settle a civil sexual assault case brought by Ms Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met, without admitting any liability.
The duke went to church with the rest of the royal family at Sandringham on Christmas Day, and attended the King’s coronation. The appearances were viewed as part of a gradual rehabilitation for Prince Andrew within the monarchy.
But the Daily Mail reported that the US court papers “have strengthened the King’s resolve that Andrew will never be allowed to resume royal duties”. Buckingham Palace declined to comment but there are plans to move him from his Royal Lodge home in Windsor Great Park to a smaller property.
