Maxwell ‘picked girls for abuse in London’

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked or abused six girls and young women in the UK, investigation alleges.

A photo of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein is seen as acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Audrey Strauss, announces charges against Maxwell during a press conference in New York City in 2020. Picture: Johannes Eiselle/AFP

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked or abused half a dozen girls and young women in the UK, an investigation team has alleged.

A former senior prosecutor told Channel 4 News that there was sufficient evidence for police to investigate the allegations, which span more than a decade despite Scotland Yard’s refusal to open a full inquiry.

The alleged victims include a woman known as Minor Victim 3 who says that she was “groomed” by Maxwell and sexually abused by Epstein, an American financier, in London beginning in 1994-95.

Another woman, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, 37, claims that she was trafficked to London and pressured by Epstein and Maxwell into sexual relations with Prince Andrew at Maxwell’s home in Mayfair, central London, in March 2001. The prince denies any involvement.

Flight records show Epstein’s aircraft — a Gulfstream jet and a Boeing 727 — flew in and out of UK airports at least 51 times. Epstein and Maxwell were guests at royal residences including Balmoral, Windsor and Sandringham.

Anouska De Georgiou, 43, a British model and actress, has claimed that she was groomed and repeatedly abused by Epstein after meeting him and Maxwell in London in the 1990s.

‘Horrific abuse’

A woman referred to as Jane Doe told a US civil case that she endured “horrific abuse” from Epstein including in London, at his main home in Florida and his private Caribbean island after she was groomed by the pair when she was aged 22 in 2001.

Bradley Edwards, a Florida-based lawyer who sued Epstein on behalf of victims, has claimed that Maxwell targeted an unidentified “very young looking girl” for abuse in London.

Nazir Afzal, a former chief crown prosecutor who led landmark cases against grooming gangs in the north of England, said on Channel 4 last night (Tuesday): “From what I’ve seen, there is clearly enough evidence for the police to investigate more thoroughly than they have done up to now. It’s concerning because we’ve got potentially victims here. And maybe other victims or alleged victims, who may if an investigation follows its course, be identified.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said that officers would review any new information but stood by the announcement by Commander Alex Murray in 2019 not to open a full investigation following Epstein’s death that year aged 66 in an apparent suicide while awaiting trial.

Maxwell, 59, is in jail in New York awaiting trial for allegedly helping Epstein to groom and abuse four teenage girls as young as 14, including Minor Victim 3. She denies any wrongdoing. Prosecutors allege she helped to groom minors for Epstein between 1994 and 1997, encouraging them to give him massages that led to sexual abuse.

The Times