Lawyers keen to quiz aide
By and
PRINCE Andrew’s rugby-loving former equerry Robert Olney, named as a potential witness by Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers, kept a low profile yesterday.
In court documents in New York, the lawyers claimed to have “reason to believe” Mr Olney has “relevant information about Prince Andrew’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein”.
Yesterday Mr Olney was not at his four-bedroom semi in Marlow, Bucks. A woman in her 50s, believed to be his wife, said: “I’m sorry but Rob is not going to say anything.”
According to his Linkedin profile Mr Olney is now head of safety and business delivery at the Civil Aviation Authority. He is Marlow Rugby Club’s operations director.
Disgraced
Ms Giuffre’s lawyers claim his name “appears in publicly available copies of Epstein’s phone book”.
They also want to ask him about Andrew’s relationship with disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, “any communications with or regarding plaintiff”, as well as Andrew’s travel to New York city and “to or from any of Epstein’s homes”.
The lawyers also want to quiz London-based businesswoman Shukri Walker. She has claimed to have seen Andrew at Tramp nightclub in London “with a young girl around the time” that Mrs Giuffre claims she danced with him before being abused at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home.
In the court papers, Ms Giuffre’s lawyers said: “Because Prince Andrew has denied ever meeting the plaintiff or being at Tramp nightclub during the relevant time period, Ms Walker’s testimony is highly relevant.”
A source close to Andrew questioned the usefulness of the pair’s testimony, claiming Mr Olney only began working for him in 2002 and that Ms Walker’s lawyer has admitted she can recall the year, not the date, she saw the Prince in Tramp, where he was said to be a regular at the time.
Andrew previously claimed he was at Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, with his daughter on the night of the alleged visit to Tramp.