SEE NO EVIL
Andy says sorry for links to suicide paedo Epstein
PRINCE Andrew has admitted he was wrong to stay friends with paedo Jeffrey Epstein.
They were pictured in Central Park in 2010, two years after Epstein got 18 months’ jail for prostituting a child.
However in a statement released by Buckingham Palace, the e Duke of York, 59, denied seeing g or suspecting any criminal nal behaviour by the dissgraced billionaire, 66 – who killed himself in jail while facing child sextrafficking charges.
He said: “At no stage e during the limited time ei I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.
“I have said previously that it was a mistake and an error to see him after his release in 2010 and I can only reiterate my regret.
“I was mistaken to think that what I thought I knew of him was evidently not the real person, given what we now know. I have tremendous sympathy for all those affected by his actions and behaviour. His suicide has left many unanswered questions and I acknowledge and sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure.”
He goes on: “This is a difficult time for everyone involved and I am at a loss to be able to understand or explain Mr Epstein’s lifestyle. I deplore the exploitatio exploitation of any human being and w would not condone, particip ticipate in, or encourage any su such behaviour.”
Virginia Giuffre, then Roberts, claimed she was “lent out” to the Duke for sex on three o occasions when she was 17 – including once in London. Lo And Johanna Sjob Sjoberg had alleged the prince groped her breast at Epstein’s New York home when she was 21.
Ms Sjoberg and Ms Giuffre, who wants the Met Police to probe her claims she was trafficked to London, originally made their claims, which Andrew “categorically” denies, as part of a 2015 Florida court filing. A judge later threw out the claims and ordered them to be struck from the record.