Met Police not investigating allegations against Andrew in Epstein files

The Metropolitan Police have said officers are not investigating allegations against the Duke of York contained in court files relating to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The force issued a short statement on Friday saying it would assess any “new and relevant” information from the documents when it is brought to officers’ attention.

It came after court documents showed Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre claimed she was sex-trafficked to the Duke of York and “two of the world’s most respected politicians”.

The names of the two politicians remain redacted.

Andrew strenuously denies any wrongdoing.

The duke stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein, and paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.

He was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style after Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.

A US judge ordered hundreds of documents to be unsealed as part of Ms Giuffre’s previously settled civil claim against disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, which was filed in 2015.

So far 59 out of around 250 documents have been released in connection with the case.

Confirming detectives were not investigating claims made in the documents, despite anti-monarchy group Republic reporting allegations made against Andrew, the force said: “We are aware of the release of court documents in relation to Jeffrey Epstein.

“As with any matter, should new and relevant information be brought to our attention we will assess it.

“No investigation has been launched.”

In the documents made public so far, high-profile figures such as the duke, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Michael Jackson and Stephen Hawking have been mentioned.

In the second tranche of documents released on Thursday, an email exchange with journalist Sharon Churcher in May 2011 showed Ms Giuffre speak of her concerns about working with Vanity Fair after former US president Mr Clinton had allegedly “threatened them not to write sex-trafficking articles” about paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

In a follow up email, Ms Churcher said it would be a “gamble” for Ms Giuffre to give the magazine a statement about how she had no more to say about how she was “sex-trafficked to PA and other men including two of the world’s most respected politicians”.

In another email, Ms Churcher appeared to suggest to Ms Giuffre how to support her allegation to the FBI that she was “given” to Andrew.

The email from March 2011 read: “I am told the FBI have the flight logs. They also have the journal. It’s the document they confiscated from a houseman called Alfredo Rodriguez.

“Maybe Jason means that he wants to know how they corroborate the flight to London when you were ‘given’ to Andrew.

“Here’s how: you had photos from that trip – taken in Granada and London – and you recalled going to Paris as well and Morocco.

“I found that itinerary in the logs (you landed at Luton airport near London).

“Also Johanna had recalled being groped by Andrew one Easter at the NY mansion and that Ghislaine sat both of you on his knee.

“You had an identical memory and there was a flight to NY just before Easter in 01 that I found in the logs.”

In another document released on Thursday, Maxwell claimed Ms Churcher, who was working for the Mail on Sunday, helped “concoct” sexual assault allegations against Andrew.

In 2016, Maxwell’s legal team claimed Ms Churcher was “aware” that the allegations made by Ms Giuffre against the duke were “false” and said she “helped manufacture some of the stories that have been denied”.

The document showed that Maxwell’s legal team alleged that a handwritten diary by Ms Giuffre, which contained information about her alleged encounter with Andrew, was a “completely fabricated document”.

In the first tranche of documents released on Wednesday, an email from Epstein to Maxwell showed he was ready to “reward” Ms Giuffre’s friends to counter her allegations – including that Mr Hawking participated in an under-age orgy.

Maxwell also told her lawyers in the UK that she felt “out of her depth” after questions were raised about her “relationship to Clinton… Andrew on and on”.

The lawyer representing Ms Giuffre, Sigrid McCawley, said the documents being unsealed are a step closer to “shutting down sex-trafficking wherever it exists and holding more to account”.

She said: “The public interest must still be served in learning more about the scale and scope of Epstein’s racket to further the important goal of shutting down sex-trafficking wherever it exists and holding more to account. The unsealing of these documents gets us closer to that goal.”

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, New York City, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020, despite attempts by her defence counsel to have her released on bail.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June 2022.

The socialite indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction with her lawyers claiming victims had “faded, distorted and motivated memories”.

Her appeal is scheduled to be heard in November next year.