I saw nothing: Prince

Andrew appalled by reports of billionaire’s alleged sex crimes

PRINCE Andrew has defended his “friendship” with depraved billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, saying he at “no stage” saw any criminal behaviour.

The Duke of York’s private life has been under intense scrutiny following paedophile Epstein’s suicide while awaiting trial for allegedly running a child sex ring.

He broke his silence to express “tremendous sympathy” for Epstein’s victims in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace.

“I met Mr Epstein in 1999. During the time I knew him, I saw him infrequently and probably no more than only once or twice a year. I have stayed in a number of his residences,” Andrew said.

“At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.”

Vile financier Epstein, 66, hanged himself in his New York jail cell on August 10 amid a string of multimilliondollar lawsuits brought by some of his alleged victims.

Andrew has long been linked to Epstein and was photographed with his arm around Epstein’s alleged “sex slave” Virginia Giuffre, when she was 17. But he has denied sleeping with her and declared himself “appalled” by reports of his former friend’s “alleged crimes”.

Ms Giuffre’s claims against Andrew were struck from a court case in 2015 when a judge ruled they were “immaterial and impertinent”. The prince reiterated it was a “mistake” seeing Epstein after his release from an 18month prison term in 2010 for prostituting minors. He was pictured with him in Central Park, New York, at the time and footage has since emerged of him at Epstein’s home in the city in the same year.

“I was mistaken to think what I thought I knew of him was evidently not the real person, given what we now know,” Andrew said.