‘Possible gaps’ in prince’s US charity trip – source
Accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl in New York while he was on an official royal tour, Prince Andrew was insistent during his excruciating BBC interview that no such event had ever taken place.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre has claimed she had sex with the Duke of York three times – in London in March 2001; a month later at his friend Jeffrey Epstein’s New York townhouse; and then on the billionaire’s private Caribbean island.
The New York trip has come under renewed scrutiny after a source who was with the duke told The Daily Telegraph that there were possible gaps in his itinerary.
The admission comes amid renewed pressure for Andrew to answer formally questions in the United States, where the FBI is investigating possible coconspirators who aided Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage girls.
The Metropolitan Police are facing calls to open an investigation into Giuffre’s London claim. It has emerged that a preliminary Scotland Yard inquiry was shelved.
The duke told the BBC he was certain his busy schedule would have made such a sexual encounter impossible. He flew to New York on April 9, 2001 for a three-day tour that ended in Boston on April 11.
A source who was with Andrew has accepted that they could not confirm his whereabouts for the full three days he spent on official business. Asked if the duke might have visited Epstein, the source said: ‘‘I’ve no idea.’’
The Telegraph understands that at the end of the three-day visit, members of the royal entourage returned to London direct from Boston. But Andrew, accompanied by his security detail, flew back to New York.
His next official engagement took place in South Korea on April 19.
Another woman has given evidence under deposition that she was in New York with the duke during the April 2001 visit, and that Giuffre was also present.
Two jail guards responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself were charged yesterday with falsifying prison records to conceal that they were sleeping and browsing the internet during the hours they were supposed to be keeping a close watch on prisoners.
– Telegraph Group, AP