Will lawyers grill Beatrice over Pizza Express trip?
THE Duke of York is bracing himself for his former wife and daughter Princess Beatrice to be dragged into his court case.
He is expecting to find out imminently which family members lawyers for sex accuser Virginia Roberts wish to interview under oath.
The next stage of the sexual assault case brought by Miss Roberts is for both sides to formally interview witnesses, done outside of a courtroom-setting but with a court recorder sitting in.
Known as depositions, the hearings allow lawyers to ask any question, no matter how personal.
David Boies, Miss Roberts’ lawyer who has been nicknamed the ‘great inquisitor’ because of his skill at interviewing witnesses under oath, has already suggested he might question Sarah Ferguson and their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
Andrew gave Beatrice as his alibi – saying they were at Pizza Express in Woking – for the date in 2001 when he is alleged to have forced Miss Roberts to have sex.
Each side in the case is expected to name – as early as this weekend – about a dozen witnesses they want to interview. Both lists could include current or former royal staff, footmen and secretaries, if the lawyers think they might have testimony helpful to their client.
The case is progressing this week after Andrew’s crushing defeat trying to have Miss Roberts’ claims against him thrown out. She vowed to prove ‘that the rich and powerful are not above the law’.
Outside America, US courts do not have jurisdiction. However there is a legal mechanism for forcing British witnesses to give evidence via a High Court order known as a ‘letter of request’.
Andrew denies the accusations.