LAWYERS TRACK ANDREW RIDES
Virginia team’s bid to hand sex case papers to Prince
PRINCE Andrew is being tracked by US lawyers so they can personally serve him court papers accusing him of sexual assault.
Virginia Giuffre’s legal team were waiting to pounce on the royal this week on his regular horse ride at Windsor.
They wanted to hand him the documents hours before Virginia’s accusations were filed in a civil court in New York.
But Andrew, 61 – who strongly denies the allegations and says he has no recollection of ever meeting his accuser – had left to join the Queen at Balmoral in
Scotland. A source said: “Virginia’s lawyers are under no illusions how difficult it is to get alongside the prince.
“They’ve been trying to speak to him for five years. Processors were on the ground on Monday when the papers were filed in Manhattan hoping to hand them to him if he went out on his horse.
“He could be at Balmoral for months without coming out.”
Mum-of-three Virginia, 38, is suing the prince for damages, claiming she was loaned out to him at 17 by his billionaire paedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein and alleged “recruiter” Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001.
Under an international law treaty Virginia’s team must present the papers to Andrew in person.
They now have 120 days to get them into his hands or his lawyers could press for the case to be dismissed. If they are officially served, he will have 21 days to respond to the accusations.
Virginia’s lawyer David Boies confirmed they are trying to serve the lawsuit by hand, adding: “We’ll present a copy of the complaint in a formal way.
“He is a foreign citizen so we must do this under the Hague Convention.”
The first case hearing is on September 13 when Virginia’s lawyers must tell the judge if Andrew has the papers.
Virginia, now in Australia, is seeking damages which could total £14million.