Calls for Prince Andrew to face prosecution over Epstein information claims

Prince Andrew has been reported to the police by an anti-monarchy marketing campaign group after allegations of sexual assault have been made in opposition to him in unsealed courtroom paperwork.

The Duke of York, who has all the time denied any wrongdoing, was reported to the Metropolitan Police by Republic after he was referenced a number of instances in information regarding disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

This was matched by related calls from a US legal professional who represented a few of Epstein’s victims, who mentioned police in Britain have an obligation to analyze Andrew as he ‘nonetheless refuses to totally account for his time’ with the paedophile. 

The unredacted paperwork, which have been launched on Wednesday within the United States, included allegations Andrew had an orgy with underage ladies and touched a lady’s breast whereas posting with a puppet of himself.

It is a contemporary setback for the late Queen’s second son who, simply 10 days in the past, walked to church on Christmas Day with the King and the remainder of the royal household, symbolising his gradual rehabilitation throughout the monarchy after his public look at his brother’s coronation in his garter robes in May.

It might even see the top of his bid to reenter the royal fold, with well-placed sources telling the Mail that whereas the courtroom claims weren’t a shock, they’ll have served to ‘crystallise’ King Charles’s willpower to unravel the ‘Andrew downside’ decisively.

Plans have been already in practice to evict him from Royal Lodge, his ten-bedroom Windsor dwelling since 2003, and transfer him to a smaller residence in line with his ‘downgraded’ standing.

The newly launched courtroom paperwork are believed to have strengthened the King’s resolve that Andrew won’t ever be allowed to renew royal duties.

The 63-year-old prince, who has beforehand strenuously denied the allegations, paid hundreds of thousands a yr in the past to settle a civil case out of courtroom with Virginia Giuffre  with no act of contrition after she accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. 

But he’s talked about greater than 70 instances in practically 1,000 pages of interviews and transcripts launched within the US in reference to a 2015 defamation case introduced by Virginia Giuffre in opposition to Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed for intercourse trafficking younger ladies for Epstein.

The names of greater than 170 individuals who have been both associates, buddies or victims of Epstein are being made public following a decide’s order final month, together with high-profile figures reminiscent of former US president Bill Clinton. 

The Duke of York has been reported to the police by the marketing campaign group Republic after allegations of sexual assault resurfaced in unsealed courtroom paperwork. 

Graham Smith, chief government of the anti-monarchy group Republic, mentioned on Thursday that he had reported Andrew to the police, accusing the Met of failing to conduct a critical prison investigation into the case. 

The power mentioned in August 2022 that it was taking no additional motion over allegations made in opposition to Epstein and that any future probes into human trafficking by the intercourse offender have been centered on actions outdoors the UK. 

It additionally beforehand mentioned it stood by its 2015 determination to not examine claims by Ms Giuffre that she was intercourse trafficked to London by Epstein. 

Mr Smith mentioned: ‘To date, there seems to have been no critical prison investigation, no interview of the accused or different witnesses, and no clear justification for taking no motion. 

‘I’m calling on the Met Police to reopen this case, I’m calling on MPs to debate this affair in Parliament, and I’m calling on Charles to make a public assertion, in entrance of the press and taking questions, to answer these allegations and what they are saying in regards to the monarchy. 

‘How can we not count on a response from the Government and head of state? At the time of the alleged offences, Andrew was a authorities commerce ambassador and an lively member of the royal household. 

‘They fudged and obfuscated for 11 years earlier than taking any definitive motion.’ 

Mr Smith added: ‘The query many individuals shall be asking is straightforward: if the accused have been anybody else, can we consider they would not have been investigated and prosecuted?’

Meanwhile, US legal professional Spencer Kuvin, who has represented a few of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, mentioned folks related to the rich financier reminiscent of Andrew, deserve a better stage of scrutiny. 

Mr Kuvin instructed the Mirror: ‘Andrew nonetheless refuses to totally account for his time with Epstein and has failed to talk with US investigators about what he is aware of.

‘British police have to do their responsibility and reopen their investigation into his conduct.’

He added that Epstein might be ‘one of many worst sexual predators of the century’.

Buckingham Palace, which now not speaks on behalf of the duke after he stepped down as a working royal in 2019 over his friendship with Epstein, has not commented on the paperwork.

Evidence from Johanna Sjoberg, who labored for Epstein as a masseuse, alleged Andrew touched her breast whereas sitting on a sofa inside Epstein’s Manhattan house as he posed for a photograph with a caricature of himself in 2001. 

The declare, which has been alleged beforehand, is assumed to discuss with a Spitting Image puppet of the duke. 

Ms Sjoberg mentioned, whereas giving proof in May 2016: ‘Ghislaine instructed me to return upstairs, and we went right into a closet and pulled out the puppet, the caricature of Prince Andrew, and introduced it down. 

‘And there was just a little tag on the puppet that mentioned ‘Prince Andrew’ on it, and that is after I knew who he was.’ 

Ms Sjoberg was requested what the puppet seemed like and replied: ‘It seemed like him. 

‘And she introduced it down and introduced it to him; and that was an excellent joke, as a result of apparently it was a manufacturing from a present on BBC. 

‘And they determined to take an image with it, through which Virginia and Andrew sat on a sofa. 

‘They put the puppet on Virginia’s lap, and I sat on Andrew’s lap, and so they put the puppet’s hand on Virginia’s breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and so they took a photograph.’ 

Other mentions of the duke embody earlier allegations that Epstein ‘pressured Jane Doe £3 to have sexual relations with was a member of the British Royal Family, Prince Andrew (a/okay/a Duke of York)’ at three places together with on Epstein’s non-public island ‘in an orgy with quite a few different under-aged ladies’. 

The doc claimed that Epstein instructed Jane Doe £3 to present Andrew ‘no matter he demanded’ and that Maxwell ‘facilitated Prince Andrew’s acts of sexual abuse by appearing as a ‘madame’ for Epstein’. 

Ms Giuffre has claimed she was trafficked by Epstein to have intercourse with Andrew 3 times when she was 17 and a minor beneath US legislation at Maxwell’s London dwelling, in Epstein’s New York dwelling and through an orgy with Epstein at Caribbean island. 

She was questioned over the whereabouts of the well-known {photograph} displaying her with the duke, who has his arm round her, with Maxwell grinning within the background. 

Ms Giuffre added it could have been in storage bins that have been ‘filled with Nerf weapons, my children’ toys, photographs’ at her mom and father-in-law’s dwelling in Sydney, Australia. 

She mentioned she gave the image to the FBI in 2011 however had final seen it earlier than she packed up her dwelling to to migrate to Australia from Colorado. 

Among the paperwork seems to be an electronic mail despatched by Maxwell expressing her fears she could be questioned about her personal relationship with Andrew. 

It reads: ‘I’ve already suffered such a horrible and painful loss over the previous few days that I am unable to even see what life after press hell even seems to be like – statements that do not deal with all simply result in extra questions… what’s my relationship to Clinton? Andrew on and on.’ 

In Maxwell’s videotaped deposition in 2016, she claimed she might solely recall the duke visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s non-public island within the US Virgin Islands as soon as. 

The Met Police and representatives of the Duke have been approached for a remark.