‘US requests UK assistance to obtain Prince Andrew testimony in Epstein probe’

US authorities have formally requested Prince Andrew answer questions as a witness in a criminal probe into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports.

The Department of Justice has submitted a mutual legal assistance (MLA) request to the Home Office as federal prosecutors investigate disgraced financier Epstein’s offending, the Sun newspaper and US broadcasters reported.

It comes just weeks after a Netflix documentary on Epstein was released featuring Virginia Giuffre, also known as Virginia Roberts, who has alleged she had sex with Andrew in 2001 after being trafficked to the UK by the American.

The Duke of York’s accuser Virginia Giuffre, in an interview with Panorama (BBC Panorama/PA) — Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre, in an interview with *Panorama* (*BBC Panorama*/PA)

Giuffre has urged Andrew to speak to authorities but a US lawyer said in March that Andrew had “completely shut the door” on co-operating with investigators over the probe.

Andrew categorically denies he had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Giuffre.

Andrew stepped away from royal duties following his disastrous Newsnight interview in November about his relationship with Epstein, who apparently killed himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

Four days after last year’s Newsnight interview, Andrew said in a statement he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required”.

But Geoffrey Berman, who is leading the Epstein inquiry, told reporters in March: “Contrary to Prince Andrew’s very public offer to co-operate with our investigation into Epstein’s co-conspirators, an offer that was conveyed via press release, Prince Andrew has now completely shut the door on voluntary co-operation and our office is considering its options.”

A letter to Andrew from lawyers for Virginia Giuffre, released by the Court of Florida (Handout/PA)

Giuffre alleges that Andrew had sex with her on three separate occasions, including when she was 17, still a minor under US law.

Giuffre also said in an interview with BBC Panorama that she was left “horrified and ashamed” after an alleged sexual encounter with Andrew in London in 2001.

MLA requests by other states are used to obtain assistance in an investigation or prosecution of criminal offences, generally when cooperation cannot be obtained by law enforcement agencies.

According to Home Office guidance, it is “usual policy” that the existence of a request is neither confirmed or denied.

Comments 3

Oldshagnasty says:

6 years ago

Nothing will come of it. Establishment paedophiles look after their own.

lanterndude says:

6 years ago

It would be surprising if we saw the Ukanian police and state media doing an ‘Assange’ on the Duke of York. They could march him up and down hills in order to establish his sweatability. He looks like someone that needs some hard labour.
As to Establishment Paedophiles; it does seem that Carl Beecher’s eighteen year prison sentence for someone accused of being a fantasist is very long! Does that sound correct?

stangya_sorensa says:

6 years ago

The real question is…will this force “Prince Andrew” to reveal what everyone knows; that he ISN’T “Prince Andrew”? That the REAL “Prince Andrew” DIED in 1995? Either from AIDS, or from “a little accident with a shotgun” while staying at Sandringham, and that the current “Prince Andrew” is a lookalike, a Navy officer who agreed to have plastic surgery. FACT: back in 1995 Buck House instructed the journalistic ciommunity not to release the story that “Andrew” was “dying from leukaemia”; and then suddenly he “Got better”; NO ONE RECOVERS FROM LEUKAEMIA.Thoughot history the Royal Family has a history of knocking off embarrassing members, from the Black Prince in the 13th century, through the first Duke of Clarence in the 15th (via the famous “Butt of Mamlsey”), another Clarence, Prince “Jack the Ripper” Eddie in the 19th, even George V’s youngest son for the “crime” of having epilepsy; remember, the two things that caused the 1917 Russian Revolution were The Tsar’s youngest having haemophilia, and the Tsar cutting the soldiers’ pay so he could buy another Faberge eagg for his collection.