SEX TRIAL GHISLAINE FACES 60TH BIRTHDAY IN PRISON

US case may last beyond Xmas

GHISLAINE Maxwell may turn 60 behind bars after her sex trial judge was asked to ensure jurors could sit beyond Christmas.

The socialite is due in the dock on November 29 over trafficking charges.

They include grooming a girl of 14 to engage in sexual acts with paedo Jeffrey Epstein from 2001 to 2004.

Lawyers have laid out timetables for Judge Alison Nathan, with both sides agreeing the trial may go beyond Christmas Day – Maxwell’s birthday.

Prosecutor Damian Williams told a New York court: “The Government projects approximately four weeks for its case in chief.

“The defence anticipates it will present a case, which it estimates will last approximately two weeks.

“The parties jointly request that the court seat only jurors with availability beyond the Christmas holiday.”

A source close to Maxwell said although she is being “realistic”, she has not given up hope of being cleared by December 25.

The Brit, a pal of Prince Andrew, has maintained her innocence since her arrest in July last year. She denies all offences including sex trafficking a minor and sex trafficking conspiracy. Epstein, once the socialite’s boyfriend, killed himself in 2019 in a New York jail as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is being held without bail at a detention centre in ALLEGATIONS Maxwell

Brooklyn. Defence lawyers say the daughter of the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell is subjected to strip searches, woken every 15 minutes by flashlight and given little food.

They have claimed the conditions have led to the accused losing more than a stone and shedding hair.