Scotland Yard drops investigation of Prince Andrew over assault allegation by Epstein accuser
Scotland Yard has announced that it will not take any further action against Prince Andrew after a review prompted by a sexual-assault allegation from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers.
Virginia Giuffre alleges that she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with the prince in London in 2001, when she was 17 and a minor under U.S. law. She is suing the prince in a U.S. court.
Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, denies the allegations. He told the BBC in a 2019 interview that he never had sex with Giuffre, saying: “It didn’t happen.”
In August, London’s Metropolitan Police, also known as Scotland Yard, began a review of allegations connected to Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in a New York detention center while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The head of Scotland Yard, Cressida Dick, said in August that “no one is above the law,” in an allusion to Prince Andrew.
In a statement late Sunday, the force said its “review has concluded and we are taking no further action.”
It also said it would take no action over allegations, first reported by Britain’s Channel 4 News, that Epstein’s alleged accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, trafficked, groomed and abused women and girls in the U.K.
A fund to provide money to victims of financier Jeffrey Epstein is winding down after announcing payments of nearly $125 million to over 135 people.
Maxwell, a British socialite, is in a U.S. jail awaiting trial on charges that she recruited teenage girls for Epstein to abuse.
The force said it was continuing to work with other law-enforcement agencies that are leading the investigation into matters associated with Epstein.
After weeks of legal skirmishing, lawyers for Prince Andrew acknowledged late last month that he had formally been served with Giuffre’s lawsuit. The prince must file responses to the claims by Oct. 29.
Last week, a U.S. judge agreed to allow Andrew’s lawyers to receive a copy of a 2009 settlement between Giuffre and Epstein that they believe will nullify the civil case against the prince.
Andrew, 61, has been banished from public royal duties amid the scandal over his friendship with convicted sex-offender Epstein, whose death in August 2019 was ruled a suicide.
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