ROYAL MAIL
Legal papers posted to Andrew as US judge rules to end delays
PRINCE Andrew’s efforts to delay his US sex case in a row over paperwork were all but extinguished by a New York judge yesterday.
Judge Lewis A Kaplan signalled his clear impatience with the duke’s apparent delaying tactics and arguments about whether or not the court paperwork had been properly served.
Paving the way for the case to pick up pace, Judge Kaplan ruled on the ‘hotly disputed’ topic within hours of being asked. Similar judgments can usually take days or even weeks.
The judge officially gave permission for lawyers acting for Andrew’s accuser, Virginia Roberts, to ask the High Court in London to formally serve papers on the Queen’s son, which overrules one of the duke’s main arguments.
Miss Roberts, who is suing Andrew for rape, sexual assault and battery, should also be allowed to serve papers on the prince’s new US-based attorney, Andrew B Brettler – even if the prince maintains he has not authorised him to accept them – the judge said. This cuts off another Andrew claim.
US lawyer Lisa Bloom told the Mail: ‘Hiding at mommy’s house has not worked. He has nowhere left to turn. It’s time for him to face the music.’
Miss Roberts’s lawyers, Boies Schiller Flexner, yesterday released a mischief-making picture showing the legal papers being posted to Andrew at his Windsor home, Royal Lodge.
They were put into a classic red Royal Mail post box by a member of the firm’s London office last week, with the Queen’s portrait on the stamp. Miss Roberts, one of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, has claimed she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions in 2001 when she was 17. The duke has strongly and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The Duke of York’s legal team was yesterday given seven days by the High Court to challenge its decision this week that it could formally notify Andrew. But the New York ruling is likely to supersede any such objection. A further hearing is due in the US on October 13. Amanda Platell – Page 21