New witness says she saw Prince Andrew and teenage Virginia Giuffre at Tramp Night Club ‘that night in 2001’
A new witness ‘vividly’ remembers seeing Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre at Tramp ‘that night in 2001’.
A new witness claims that she saw the Duke of York with Virginia Giuffre at the Tramp nightclub on the night it is alleged that they had sex.
The witness, who has not been named, remembers the occasion “vividly”, her lawyer said on Tuesday.
Her testimony, if true, would challenge the duke’s assertions that he cannot remember meeting Ms Giuffre, then aged 17 and known as Virginia Roberts, who has alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew later that night.
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Lisa Bloom, a lawyer representing victims of Jeffrey Epstein, told ITV’s This Morning: “I’m letting you know now for the first time really, publicly, that I am representing a witness who says she was there that night in 2001.
She saw Prince Andrew with Virginia, she remembers it vividly because she was told this is a member of the royal family. It was a very big thing for her.
“She was shocked and she saw Virginia there with him and so I’m going to take her to the FBI, they can investigate her claims and I call on other witnesses to come forward.”
Ms Giuffre claimed in her first British television interview on Monday that, after leaving the club, she had sex with Andrew at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend at the time. She told a BBC Panorama special how the sex left her “horrified and ashamed”, saying: “One thing that I can tell you is you never forget the face of someone who has heaved over you.”
The duke vehemently denies her claims, and says he cannot remember meeting her.
Ms Bloom also called on Andrew, who has said he would co-operate with “any appropriate law enforcement agency”, to talk to the victims’ lawyers.
‘Come to the US, Andrew’
“Let’s put those words into action, Prince Andrew. You’ve said that you’re going to co-operate, let’s do it. Don’t make us subpoena you. Don’t make law enforcement chase you around.
“Come to the US, sit down with the FBI and with victims’ attorneys like myself and answer questions. And yes, not just answers. Give us the documents, calendars, journals, all of the information that is customarily turned over in investigations like this and have your staff who travel with you, security who have eyes and ears, have them answer questions as well.”
Buckingham Palace said earlier that the duke regrets “his ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein” and “deeply sympathises with those affected”.
It was “emphatically denied” that he had any sexual contact with Ms Giuffre.
Confidential communications between Epstein and his lawyer Alan Dershowitz could be made public by a New York judge as part of a defamation suit filed by Ms Giuffre.
Mr Dershowitz was part of a legal team that helped Epstein secure a controversial deal with prosecutors in Florida in 2008, allowing him to avoid federal charges of sex trafficking children and plead guilty instead to lesser state charges of soliciting prostitution with a minor.
Mr Dershowitz has strenuously denied Ms Giuffre’s claims.
He has portrayed them as part of a plot to extort money from prominent men with ties to Epstein. In April Ms Giuffre sued him for defamation. This week her lawyer told a court that he would seek materials from “Mr Dershowitz’s lawyer-client relationship with Mr Epstein”.
Judge Loretta Preska said that she would only allow materials that were directly relevant to the allegations.
The civil case is expected to be heard next year.
The Times
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