16 Aug 2019
Exclusive: Met Police decided not to conduct full
investigation into court claims of sex trafficking of girl in Prince Andrew
photo
The Met Police decided not to conduct a ‘full investigation’
into allegations a 17 year old girl was trafficked as part of Jeffrey Epstein’s
‘sex ring.’
Channel 4 News can reveal that the Metropolitan Police began
a review of “available evidence” in 2015 after receiving a complaint over
claims in court papers that a girl was “forced to have sex with Prince Andrew”.
Channel 4 News also understands that lawyers for Virginia
Roberts independently contacted the Metropolitan Police in 2016.
The Metropolitan Police said it “reviewed the available
evidence” and decided that the matter “would not progress to a full
investigation”.
It is not clear what constituted the available evidence.
The Met Police has refused to answer detailed questions
about the allegations and whether they ever spoke to Epstein, his friend
Ghislaine Maxwell, Prince Andrew or anyone from the Royal Household.
Prince Andrew has always denied “any form of sexual contact
or relationship with Virginia Roberts”.
Tonight, lawyers for Virginia Roberts told Channel 4 News
she is “hopeful” that “the London authorities will view the abuse she suffered
while in London … as a serious investigative matter.”
In U.S court documents released last week, Virginia Roberts,
now Giuffre, alleges that she was one of many girls and young women that were
part of a sex trafficking network run by disgraced financier and paedophile
Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell earlier
this month.
In the court documents, Ms Roberts alleges that in 2001,
aged 17, she was trafficked to the UK by Mr Epstein, accompanied by Ghislaine
Maxwell, during which time she was “forced to have sexual relations with a
member of the British Royal Family, Prince Andrew.”
A photo from early 2001, taken in a house believed to be
that of Ghislane Maxwell, shows Prince Andrew with his arm around the bare
waist of Virginia Roberts. Ms Maxwell is in the background of the photo.
These court documents contain various historical allegations
made by Virginia Roberts, who says that she was subjected to repeated sexual
abuse, sex trafficking and exploitation by Mr Epstein and his ‘sexual abuse
ring’ from 1999 until 2002.
There is no suggestions that Prince Andrew was aware of any
of Jeffrey Epstein’s activities.
A complaint to the police regarding the alleged sexual
trafficking to the UK of Ms Roberts was received in 2015 from an unconnected
third party.
Channel 4 News asked the Metropolitan Police a series of
questions about Virginia Robert’s account of what she says happened to her at
Maxwell’s London residence in early 2001.
The Met told Channel 4 News: “[We] can confirm that the
Metropolitan Police Service [MPS] received an allegation of non-recent
trafficking for sexual exploitation.
“The MPS reviewed the available evidence and the decision
was made that this would not progress to a full investigation. As such, the
matter was closed.”
There are of course several reasons why a full investigation
would not be launched, but they have not made clear why further action was not
taken on this matter.
Lawyers for Virginia Roberts, now Giuffre, told Channel 4
News: “Virginia Giuffre has been and remains hopeful that, given all the
factual evidence that is now in the public domain, the London authorities will
view the abuse she suffered while in London …
as a serious investigative
matter and they would be prepared to prosecute and hold those responsible
accountable — regardless of status or power.”
In a court application filed in 2014 Virginia Giuffre
alleged that she was forced to have sexual relations in three places when she
was under 18.
The court ruled that “lurid” details in her application were
“unnecessary” in determining if she could join the action. It ruled the details
around sexual activities concerning Prince Andrew were “immaterial and
impertinent” to the application, and should be stricken.
Allegations
Ghislaine Maxwell has previously denied any wrongdoing –
including the allegations now in the public domain from court filings in the
United States.
Buckingham Palace released a statement in relation to these
allegations on behalf of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.
“This relates to proceedings in the United States, to which
The Duke of York is not a party. Any suggestion of impropriety with underage
minors is categorically untrue.”
“It is emphatically denied that The Duke of York had any
form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the
contrary is false and without foundation.”
This
article is more than 8 years old
Prince Andrew to step down as trade envoy, Buckingham
Palace confirms
This article is more than 8 years old
The prince will concentrate on boosting training and
apprenticeships within Britain after a series of scandals
Stephen Bates
Fri 22 Jul 2011 01.45 BST First published on Fri 22 Jul 2011
01.45 BST
Prince Andrew, who is stepping down from his role as UK
trade envoy after coming under pressure to quit. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP
Prince Andrew has
accepted a downgrading of his role as a trade envoy four months after coming
under severe criticism for his association with a convicted US billionaire sex
offender.
His days
jetsetting around the world as a representative for British businesses – which
earned him the tag "Airmiles Andy" – also look to be over as
Buckingham Palace confirmed only that he would "continue to support
business in the UK" and would not have a specialised role.
After a day in
which the palace declined to confirm media reports that the prince, fourth in
line to the throne, would be standing down, it issued a statement saying that
he would "undertake trade engagements if requested". It is
thought that he may now focus on boosting business in Britain and acting as a
figurehead in the government's plans to increase the number of industrial
apprenticeships and training for young people.
The announcement follows, after a decent interval, the
intense pressure the prince and ministers came under in March following the
revelation that he had maintained contact with the American billionaire Jeffrey
Epstein, who was jailed in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution, and
that Epstein had given £15,000 to Andrew's former wife Sarah Ferguson to reduce
some of her debts. The prince acknowledged he had made a mistake after a
photograph of him with Epstein in New York was published.
That incident was only the latest misjudgment in the
prince's 10-year career as an envoy. He was also criticised for his use of
private jets and helicopters rather than scheduled flights for his engagements
in Britain and around the world and for his close links with unsavoury foreign
dictators and businessmen.
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Last year's Wikileaks disclosures featured an American
ambassador criticising the prince's boorish remarks to businessmen during a
lunch in Kyrgyzstan, during which he attacked a British Serious Fraud Office
investigation into corruption.
His regular trips to Kazakhstan and friendship with Timor
Kulibayev, the president's son-in-law, also aroused adverse comment, especially
when Kulibayev purchased Sunninghill Park near Ascot, given by the Queen to
Andrew and Ferguson following their marriage, for £15m, £3m more than the
asking price.
Further doubts were raised about Andrew's position in the
wake of a Guardian report about him entertaining the son-in-law of the ousted
Tunisian president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, at Buckingham Palace.
Following the revelations in March, the prince was called in
to Buckingham Palace for talks with his mother and government ministers were
said to be sufficiently exasperated to cast around for a new job for him.
The former CBI leader and junior trade minister in the last
Labour government, Lord Digby Jones claimed on Thursday night that the new job
would be the next natural step and "very much the same". He told the
BBC that it would have "one big add-on, a bit less travel and a lot more working
with apprenticeships and young people in Britain to get them skilled up to make
stuff that the UK can sell around the world...let's see what he can do to act,
to create some profit, employ some people, pay some tax."
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who was briefly a Foreign Office
minister in the last government, who called for the prince to be sacked in
March, said: "If he is going I am delighted. It is not before time - and
there are quite a lot of people in the Foreign Office who will be very pleased
too, even if they cannot say so."
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