Secret files in case of girl, 17, ‘forced to have sex with Prince Andrew’ to be opened after ruling

Some 2000 files involving alleged sex trafficking victim Virginia Roberts are being released, and they are said to implicate Prince Andrew.

Secret files accusing Prince Andrew of having sex with Jeffrey Epstein’s 17-year-old “sex slave” are going to be unsealed by a judge.

Billionaire Epstein this week pleaded not guilty to child sex trafficking charges in New York and could face 45 years in prison if found guilty, The Sun reports.

The 66-year-old financier is accused of recruiting girls — some aged as young as 14 — and sexually abusing them at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.

Around 2000 files from a defamation case involving alleged trafficking victim Virginia Roberts are now due to be released following a US Court of Appeal ruling, The Sunday Times reports.

Ms Roberts, now 35, claimed in 2015 Epstein forced her to have sex with Prince Andrew in London, New York and the Caribbean.

Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts, aged 17, at Ghislaine Maxwell's townhouse in London on March 13 2001. Picture: Shutterstock

The mum-of-three accused Epstein of recruiting her as a “sex slave” — and said she had been “procured for sexual activities” by Ghislaine Maxwell, a personal aide to the financier.

The Duke of York was pictured with his arm around Ms Roberts’ waist at Ms Maxwell’s home in London in 2001 when she was aged 17 but has strongly denied the claims.

A judge also threw the accusations against Andrew out because they were “immaterial and impertinent” to Epstein’s case.

Ms Roberts then successfully sued Ms Maxwell for defamation after she branded her a “liar”, and the documents were sealed following a legal argument.

But the ruling earlier this month at the US Court of Appeal heard how the public’s right to know outweighed the privacy rights of people who wanted to keep secrets.

Registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, 66. Picture: AFP/New York State Sex Offender Registry

Epstein, pictured here in 2008, is accused of operating a sex trafficking ring. Picture: Uma Sanghvi/Palm Beach Post via AP

The Duke of York, 59, has previously faced criticism over his relationship with the child abuser and was pictured walking in Central Park with him in December 2010.

That snap was taken during Andrew’s four-day stay at Epstein’s $77 million mansion in Manhattan — shortly after the banker had been freed from prison after a previous child sex trafficking conviction in Florida.

It has also emerged Andrew holidayed with Epstein in Thailand in 2001 and invited him to stay at Windsor Castle and the Queen’s Sandringham estate.

Epstein’s mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where the party reportedly took place, was raided by cops last weekend.

The article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission