Gathering dust on a desk in Sidcup, file that could make or break Andrew
DOCUMENTS that could make or break Prince Andrew’s ‘alibi’ for the night he is alleged to have had sex with a sex-trafficked teenager are gathering dust in a police office.
A former Royal protection officer at Buckingham Palace told The Mail on Sunday in February that he believed Andrew may have returned to the Palace in the early hours of March 11, 2001 – the night in question.
If Andrew did return, it would contradict his claim of being at home at Sunninghill Park in Berkshire all evening after earlier taking his daughter Beatrice to a party at Pizza Express in Woking.
Virginia Roberts alleges she was coerced by paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein into having sex with Andrew in London when she was 17, one of three occasions she claims she was intimate with him. The Duke of York has strongly denied having any sexual contact with Ms Roberts.
In the exclusive interview with the MoS, the Royal guard said Andrew returned to the Palace in his car early one morning and allegedly harangued officers for not opening the gates quickly enough. The officer suspects the episode, which he said was logged, happened on March 11, 2001.
He asked the Metropolitan Police on February 22 this year to be given access to his personnel file containing the duty logs for that night. He should have received a reply within 30 working days, but heard nothing until last week – almost 100 days later – after he complained.
A caseworker at the Met’s Information Rights Unit based in Sidcup, South-East London, confirmed that the officer’s personnel file was sent there by the Royal protection squad more than two months ago, but had gone unread because of the Covid-19 lockdown.
The caseworker wrote: ‘We have all been advised to work from home for the foreseeable future. Your file is waiting for me to view when normal duties are resumed. However, I am unable to give you a timescale of when this will be.’
Last night, the former Royal guard said he was amazed that potentially crucial documents were being ignored.
He added: ‘Surely this information could have been reviewed and dealt with by a senior manager practising social distancing before now, considering the importance of the case and the details it may contain?’
Andrew was asked about the events of March 10-11, 2001, during his infamous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis last November. Asked if he was ‘absolutely sure’ that he was at home on March 10, he replied: ‘Yeah.’
Last night a spokesman for Prince Andrew declined to comment. The Met also declined to comment.