EXPOSED Duke’s sex slave alibi falls apart
Andrew & Virginia: The explosive dossier
MAJOR NEW MAIL SERIES STARTS TODAY
‘Refusing to be interviewed’
■ But in-depth Mail investigation raises questions about accuser’s allegations, too
PRINCE Andrew’s Pizza Express ‘alibi’ is in tatters following a bombshell Daily Mail investigation.
In the first instalment of an exclusive four-part series we can reveal astonishing details about the day he is alleged to have slept with his teenage sex accuser Virginia Roberts.
She says she was trafficked to London by the prince’s paedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein when she was just 17. Our investigation into the events of March 10, 2001, can disclose that:
■ Princess Beatrice has ‘ absolutely no recollection’ of the Pizza Express birthday party her father has claimed to have attended;
■ The family who hosted the party confirmed Beatrice came but cannot recall what happened and whether the prince was there;
■ According to a family diary, the Duke of York had booked a home manicure on the afternoon he says he dropped Beatrice, then aged 12, at the party in Woking, Surrey;
■ Sources said the prince had a ‘very vague’ recollection of waiting under a bridge near Pizza Express to collect his daughter;
■ A royal protection officer said to have been on duty that weekend, and who could possibly support his alibi, has died;
■ Housekeepers on duty at the prince’s home – Sunninghill Park, Ascot – ‘can’t remember’ his movements on the weekend in question;
■ Concerns also emerged over the accuracy of Miss Roberts’ claim that she went clubbing in London with Andrew that evening and over her description of a bath tub in which she says they had sex;
■ An exclusive through-the-keyhole view shows the bathroom in Ghislaine Maxwell’s mews house in Belgravia;
■ The Duchess of York was in the United States promoting chinaware to pay off her huge personal debts when Andrew is alleged to have bedded Miss Roberts.
Our devastating revelations follow an investigation that has seen us obtain testimony from new witnesses, see sensitive documents, learn the contents of diaries and interview high-level sources.
Our inquiries have taken us from London to New York, Boston, Florida, the US Virgin Islands, South Africa and Australia.
The series will also examine the precision of some of Miss Roberts’ sensational allegations against the duke, which have dogged him for nearly ten years since the Mail on Sunday published a picture of the pair together.
It was allegedly taken in British socialite Miss Maxwell’s home on March 10, 2001.
In a car crash interview with the BBC, the Queen’s second son rejected allegations made by Miss Roberts that they danced together at celebrity night spot Tramp in central London before having sex.
His American accuser alleges they had sex three times in all – firstly in London, then in New York and finally in the Caribbean.
Andrew vehemently denies her claims.
The prince’s extraordinary Pizza Express alibi prompted ridicule around the world last November.
In the interview with Emily Maitlis of Newsnight, Andrew denied having sex with Miss Roberts at Miss Maxwell’s home.
He said it could not have happened because he spent the day with his daughter.
‘I was with the children and I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at, I suppose, sort of 4pm or 5pm in the afternoon,’ he said. When asked why he would remember a meal at Pizza Express 18 years later, he said: ‘Because going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do, a very unusual thing for me to do ... I’ve only been to Woking a couple of times and I remember it weirdly distinctly.
‘As soon as somebody reminded me of it, I went, “Oh yes, I remember that”.’
In June it was claimed that the prince was in a ‘Mexican standoff’ with US prosecutors.
He was said to be ‘utterly bewildered’ after he was accused of refusing to be interviewed by the Epstein investigators.
Friends said they were mystified by claims Andrew refused to cooperate with the probe – yet stopped short of denying it was true.
US prosecutor Geoffrey Berman said the prince had ‘repeatedly declined’ a request to be interviewed and had ‘unequivocally’ stated he would not come in for one. But Andrew’s London lawyers say he offered to provide a statement.
The prince appeared to be at loggerheads with the Americans because they wanted a face-to-face interview, whereas he wanted to provide evidence in writing.
In July the prosecutors urged Andrew to ‘talk to us’ after the FBI arrested Miss Maxwell on child sex charges. Their call came after they pounced on the British socialite in a dawn raid on her hideaway in New Hampshire. Hours later she appeared in court charged with the sordid abuse of girls as young as 14, including one in London. Last night the US Department of Justice declined to answers a series of questions from the Daily Mail.
These included whether it had reached agreement with Prince Andrew’s legal team over the terms of taking testimony from him and whether it had obtained the original – rather than a copy – of the widely publicised picture purporting to show Andrew with his arm
around the waist of Miss Roberts. The Mail also asked representatives of Andrew a series of questions about the London allegations made by Miss Roberts.
A spokesman for the duke said: ‘It would not be appropriate to comment on any of these matters.’ A friend said: ‘The duke has already publicly stated he has no recollection of meeting Virginia Roberts. Nor has he any recollection of dining in a Chinese restaurant or attending Tramp on the night in question.
‘It is also well known amongst the duke’s circle of friends and his staff that he has been teetotal his entire adult life.’
A source close to the duke added: ‘In the Buckingham Palace statement made on 19th August 2019 the Duke expressed deep concern for the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and hoped that they could find some resolution.
‘It is a matter of deep regret to the Duke that he did not reiterate that empathy for the survivors during his Newsnight interview, which was clearly a mistake.’
Miss Roberts’ representatives in New York did not respond to repeated requests to comment on a series of questions from the Mail.