This isn’t a donation to sex victims... it’s blood money, says ex-chief prosecutor

A FORMER chief prosecutor launched an astonishing attack on Prince Andrew last night, accusing him of paying ‘blood money’ to his accuser.

Nazir Afzal said the Duke of York had tried every trick in the book to get the claims against him by Virginia Roberts thrown out. The lawyer says the prince then changed tactics once he realised the allegations would be aired in court.

The ex-chief crown prosecutor for North West England, who initiated prosecutions in the high-profile Rochdale sex trafficking case, said he lost respect for the duke when he began ‘victim blaming’.

This is thought to be a reference to Andrew’s lawyers’ request for Miss Roberts’ medical records and suggestions she may have created ‘false memories’. In a blistering series of tweets, Mr Afzal said: ‘Each time he did that, a victim somewhere was re-traumatised.

‘They suffer indignities given them by their abusers and then further pain inflicted upon them by those who stood by and did nothing and then belittled their pain.’

Just minutes after it was announced Andrew and Miss Roberts – who brought the case under her married name of Giuffre – had reached an out-of-court settlement, Mr Afzal accused the prince of doing so to avoid a trial. ‘He is willing to pay large sums of money to her for something he denies,’ he said. ‘Make of that what you will.’

Mr Afzal, who was made an OBE in 2005, also said it was a credit to Miss Roberts that she had negotiated for Andrew to make a ‘substantial donation’ to her sex abuse charity. But he added: ‘Before it’s spun to suggest Prince Andrew is giving a donation to charity, remember he could do that any time he wanted. This is no “donation”. This is “blood money”.’

Mr Afzal continued: ‘Prince Andrew says he regrets his association with [Jeffrey] Epstein and that he will now support victims of sex trafficking i.e. rape.

‘I am honoured to know a few and they wouldn’t welcome him given what he has publicly said about them. I’ll take him at his word and invite him to meet them.’

The lawyer also questioned the alibi Prince Andrew gave Emily Maitlis during their infamous 2019 Newsnight interview.

The duke claimed he had been picking up his daughter Beatrice from a party at Pizza Express in Woking the night he was said to have slept with Miss Roberts.

Mr Afzal said: ‘Something tells me that Prince Andrew never went for that pizza in Woking.’ Andrew has always denied Miss Roberts’ allegations. When his team was asked about Mr Afzal’s comments, they declined to respond.