COULD GIVE VITAL CLUES ON CASE
Andrew & convicted Epstein in New York
Interviewer Emily Maitlis, however, failed to ask whether he’d also visited Epstein at his ranch – and Andrew has never spoken of his time at Zorro.
Ex-employees have said the home was adorned with pictures of young girls. “There was no way people could not have seen them,” another one said.
In 2011 Epstein’s former butler Juan Alessi claimed Prince Andrew visited the Palm Beach property “three or four times” in the 2000s.
Alessi said bedrooms contained boxes full of sex toys and bathrooms came with phallic-shaped soap.
Police who raided the property in 2005 were said to have found a photo of a young girl bending over, her lower half exposed. Another member of staff recalled, around 2007, receiving a call from Epstein demanding staff take down all the pictures.
“He didn’t say why but was agitated and told us to stop whatever we were doing and take them down,” they said.
Staff only realised the urgency after discovering police in Florida had begun investigating their boss for underage prostitution.
PROSTITUTION
Epstein was jailed for procuring a minor for prostitution and served 13 months before being released under house arrest in 2010. Andrew sparked embarrassment for Buckingham Palace when he was pictured that year with the paedophile following a more than decade-long friendship.
The Prince was once videoed
UK socialite flew about on Epstein’s jet
Andrew and Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis peering from behind the door of Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse.
Epstein and Andrew were also famously photographed strolling through Central Park in New York. Andrew entertained Epstein at Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral.
The Duke’s former wife Sarah Ferguson accepted €20,000 from the financier to help pay off her debts.
She was later threatened with legal action by Epstein after she called him a paedophile. Fergie apologised for
Sarah Ransome, Virginia Giuffre and Marijke Chartouni
accepting his cash. She issued a statement saying it was an “error of judgment”, stating: “I abhor paedophilia.”
Andrew stepped down from royal duties last year after more details of his friendship with Epstein emerged.
In the Newsnight interview he denied a liaison with Ms Guiffre in London on March 20, 2001 – saying he had been at Pizza Express in Woking with his daughter Beatrice that evening. Palace officials are facing a further headache as the Epstein saga will be shown to a fresh audience on May 27 with a four-part documentary on Netflix called Filthy Rich.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan jail last August.
Forensic pathologist Michael Baden, who was hired by the tycoon’s
Zorro ranch, New Mexico
family, believes Epstein’s autopsy suggests homicide rather than suicide.
Epstein signed a will just two days before his death, putting his €550m fortune in a trust fund. It shielded the identities of beneficiaries. One lawyer called it “the last act of Epstein’s manipulation of the system”.
A friend of Andrew said: “Remember he only saw Epstein once since 2004. The visit you’re describing must have been more like 20 years ago. I can guarantee he’s not the sort of man to remember the interior design of a place he visited two decades ago.”
Last night a spokesman for the Duke declined to comment or say whether he knew the woman, who was unavailable for comment.
chris.bucktin@mirror.co.uk