Ghislaine Maxwell trial: ‘You opened the door to hell . to indescribable pain’

Prince Andrew will be dragged back into the spotlight this week as Ghislaine Maxwell’s victims deliver impact statements to court.

Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew, has submitted a victim impact statement to Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial. Picture: AFP.

Prince Andrew will be dragged back into the spotlight this week by survivors of Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes who claim the British socialite “opened the door to hell”.

One victim is expected to cite the infamous photograph of Prince Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre at Maxwell’s London home as evidence that the abuse allegedly continued for years.

Annie Farmer will tell Maxwell’s sentencing hearing in New York that she was left “physically shaking” when she first saw the picture – taken in 2001 – five years after she was abused, aged 16, by Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein in New Mexico.

“It became clear to me how their [sex-trafficking] scheme had continued,” Farmer says in a victim impact statement that she plans to read out in court on Tuesday.

Giuffre, who has previously claimed that she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17, has also submitted a statement.

However, under the terms of a multimillion-pound settlement she reached with the duke earlier this year, she is barred from repeating her allegations of rape and sexual assault. The duke denies any wrongdoing.

Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell in Maxwell’s London home. Picture: AFP.

Giuffre does not directly mention Andrew in her submission. She writes instead: “Ghislaine, the pain you have caused me is almost indescribable. Because of your choices and the world you brought me into, I don’t sleep.

“Nightmares wake me at all hours. In those dreams, I relive the awful things you and others did to me and the things you forced me to do.”

Giuffre adds: “I want to be clear about one thing: without question, Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible paedophile. But I never would have met Jeffrey Epstein if not for you. For me, and for so many others, you opened the door to hell.

“And then, Ghislaine, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, you used your femininity to betray us, and you led us all through it.

“You deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. You deserve to be trapped in a cage for ever, just like you trapped your victims.”

Maxwell, 60, faces a maximum sentence of 55 years after being convicted of recruiting and trafficking underage girls for abuse by Epstein, her former lover.

A British former model, known as Kate, who met Maxwell in London at 17, is also expected to read out a victim impact statement.

“The consequences of what Ghislaine Maxwell did have been far-reaching for me,” writes Kate.

“I have struggled with, and eventually triumphed over, substance disorder. I have suffered panic attacks and night terrors, with which I still struggle.”

Kate and Farmer both say they were “retraumatised” by having to testify at Maxwell’s trial after she refused to accept any guilt.

Kate adds: “In becoming a mother I have learnt that forgiveness is important, but so are consequences."

The Sunday Times