UK police: no further action over Prince Andrew, Epstein allegations
Britain’s Prince Andrew speaks to the media during Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Windsor Great Park, Britain following Friday’s death of his father Prince Philip at age 99, April 11, 2021. REUTERS FILE PHOTO
LONDON — British police said on Monday they would be taking no further action after conducting a review of evidence relating to sex crime allegations against Queen Elizabeth’s son, Prince Andrew, and the late U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein.
London’s police chief, Cressida Dick, said in August that detectives would look at the allegations for a third time although they would not start an investigation, after Virginia Giuffre filed a U.S. lawsuit accusing the prince of sexual assault which he has always denied.
She had said at the time that “no one is above the law”.
“As a matter of procedure MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) officers reviewed a document released in August 2021 as part of a U.S. civil action,” the police said in a statement on Monday. “This review has concluded and we are taking no further action.”
In her civil lawsuit, Giuffre, 38, has accused Andrew of forcing her to have sex when she was underage at the London home of Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
She also said Andrew, 61, abused her at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan, and on Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The British royal, the ninth in line to the throne, has always denied those allegations or having any relationship with Giuffre.
He was forced to step down from royal duties over his friendship with Epstein, who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while being held on sex-trafficking charges.
The Sunday Times had reported this week that London police had spoken to Giuffre regarding her allegations.
“The Metropolitan Police Service continues to liaise with other law enforcement agencies who lead the investigation into matters related to Jeffrey Epstein,” the police said in their statement.
Last week, lawyers for Andrew, the queen’s second son, were given permission to examine a confidential 2009 agreement between Epstein and Giuffre which they hope will absolve him from all liability in the case.
