Jeffrey Epstein scandal: ‘He knows what happened’, says accuser as London police defend not investigating Prince Andrew sex claims

As London police defend not pursuing Prince Andrew, his accuser says ‘only one of us telling the truth’.

“There’s only one of us telling the truth,” says Virginia Giuffre, left, who claims she had sex with Prince Andrew, right, after being sex trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein.

Scotland Yard is assisting the FBI with a wide-ranging investigation into sex trafficking by the Duke of York’s paedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed for the first time that its officers have had discussions with the FBI in connection with an investigation into co-conspirators who are suspected of assisting Epstein to traffic and abuse women, an inquiry that is continuing despite his prison-cell suicide in August.

It comes as interview excerpts from Epstein and Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre’s upcoming Panorama documentary show her saying Andrew “knows what happened”.

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In a lengthy statement that will cause further discomfort for Buckingham Palace, the Met set out details on Thursday of its involvement in inquiries into the billionaire paedophile and former friend of the duke, as well as his British associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

One of those who claims she was abused by Epstein is Virginia Roberts (now Giuffre), who says that she was trafficked to London in March 2001 and made to have sex with Prince Andrew.

The duke, 59, who was pictured with Ms Giuffre at Ms Maxwell’s London house in 2001, has consistently denied having sex with her.

The Met did not disclose details of information it might have shared with the FBI, or whether the exchanges had included any discussion of Prince Andrew, who visited Epstein’s homes across the US and invited Ms Maxwell and him to Windsor Castle and Sandringham.

As well as confirming that it was assisting the FBI, the force sought to explain why it had failed to start a full criminal investigation into Ms Giuffre’s claims in 2015.

Prince Andrew has consistently denied Ms Giuffre’s claims. Picture: Duncan McGlynn/Getty

The Met said that despite receiving a criminal complaint against Epstein and Ms Maxwell, made in July that year by Ms Giuffre, it did not open a full investigation because the alleged illegal conduct mainly took place overseas. Scotland Yard said that it had spent more than a year examining the complaint by Ms Giuffre, including obtaining permission to travel to the US to interview her, before deciding in November 2016 not to proceed with a full British inquiry.

‘There’s only one of us telling the truth’

It is understood that the complaint did not include any criminal allegations against the prince.

Ms Giuffre will repeat her allegations in her first big British television interview, to be broadcast by Panorama on BBC One on Monday.

She says in a clip released on Thursday: “It was a really scary time in my life. He knows what happened; I know what happened. And there’s only one of us telling the truth.”

The Met’s statement came after speculation about its decision not to investigate the incident, following Andrew’s own television interview this month and his subsequent removal from public duties.

The 2015 decision was taken by Dean Haydon, now a deputy assistant commissioner in charge of counter-terrorism, after advice from the Crown Prosecution Service. In its explanation the force said that it had received “an allegation of non-recent trafficking for sexual exploitation” in July 2015 “against a US national, Jeffrey Epstein, and a British woman”.

Commander Alex Murray, of the Met’s specialist crime unit, added that the complaint “related to events outside the UK and an allegation of trafficking to central London in March 2001. ‘Not the appropriate authority to investigate’

Officers assessed the available evidence, interviewed the complainant and obtained early investigative advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.

“Following the legal advice, it was clear that any investigation into human trafficking would be largely focused on activities and relationships outside the UK. We concluded that the MPS was not the appropriate authority to conduct inquiries in these circumstances and, in November 2016, a decision was made that this matter would not proceed to a full criminal investigation.”

The file was reviewed after Epstein’s death and the position was unchanged.

Harry Fletcher, of the Victims’ Rights Campaign, said: “The Met’s statement raises more issues than it answers. Did the police at the time interview the British woman and any named man she [the complainant] was allegedly procured to have sex with?”

He queried the Met’s claim that it was not the appropriate authority to investigate because any inquiry would be largely overseas, pointing out that the law at the time, the Sexual Offences Act 1956, forbade procuring a girl under 21 to have sexual intercourse with a third party anywhere in the world.

The Times