Revealed: Met was asked to probe sex trafficking claim by girl in Andrew photo
...AS EPSTEIN ‘FIXER’ FINALLY SHOWS UP – AT A BURGER BAR
SCOTLAND Yard was asked to launch a probe into claims that a girl was trafficked to the UK for sex by Jeffrey Epstein, it emerged last night.
The Met reviewed the ‘available evidence’ concerning claims in US court papers that Virginia Roberts was ‘forced to have sex’ with Prince Andrew when she was 17-years-old.
But the force decided the matter ‘would not progress to a full investigation’, Channel 4 News revealed.
Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied that he had any form of sexual contact with Miss Roberts. There is no suggestion that Prince Andrew was aware of Epstein’s alleged activities.
A photograph from early 2001, believed to have been taken in a house in Belgravia belonging to Epstein’s friend Ghislaine Maxwell, shows Andrew with his arm around the bare midriff of Miss Roberts. Miss Maxwell is in the background of the same photo.
In a court application filed in 2014, Miss Roberts – now named Mrs Giuffre and a mother-of-three living in Australia – alleged she was ‘forced to have sex’ with Andrew in London and two other locations in 2001, when she was under 18.
A judge later threw out the allegations against the Duke of York and ordered them to be struck from the record as ‘immaterial and impertinent’.
Channel 4 News said the Met refused to answer detailed questions about the allegations and whether they ever spoke to Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew or anyone from the Royal Household.
Last night lawyers for Mrs Giuffre said they hoped the Met would resume their inquiries and hold accountable those responsible.
‘Virginia Giuffre has been and remains hopeful that, given all the factual evidence that is now in the public domain, the London authorities will view the abuse she suffered while in London as a serious investigative matter and they would be prepared to prosecute and hold those responsible accountable – regardless of status or power,’ the lawyers said.
Peter Saunders, of British charity the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said he approached the Met in 2015 because paperwork published in the US relating to Epstein gave him ‘cause for concern’.
Mr Saunders said: ‘I was concerned there were British victims here. I passed the information on to police at New Scotland Yard.’ A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘[We] can confirm that the Metropolitan Police Service received an allegation of non-recent trafficking for sexual exploitation. The MPS reviewed the available evidence and the decision was made that this would not progress to a full investigation. ‘As such, the matter was closed.’ A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: ‘This relates to proceedings in the United States, to which The Duke of York is not a party. Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.
‘It is emphatically denied that The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.’
Meanwhile, Epstein’s alleged ‘madam’ has been pictured in public for the first time since 2016 – posing outside a fast food restaurant near Los Angeles.
Ghislaine Maxwell, 57 – known for her extravagant lifestyle – was enjoying a burger and soft drinks with her dog, reading a book about spies. The eaterie appeared to be an unusual choice for the healthconscious British socialite.
Since Epstein’s alleged suicide in his prison cell last weekend, Robert Maxwell’s daughter has become a key figure in the sex trafficking probe.
Although the photo at the In-NOut Burger bar was reportedly taken on Monday, it was published by The New York Post on Thursday, hours after reports claimed she was hiding out near Boston.
The timing prompted speculation that Miss Maxwell could be attempting to throw media and the FBI off the scent.
‘Concerned there were British victims’