LONDON (AP) — London police are probing whether or not Prince Andrew requested an officer assigned to him as a bodyguard to dig up dust on sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.
The Metropolitan Police stated it was “actively looking into” media studies that Andrew in 2011 sought data to smear Giuffre by asking an officer on the pressure to search out out if she had a legal document.
The report by the Mail on Sunday adopted Buckingham Palace’s announcement Friday that Andrew agreed to relinquish use of Duke of York and different remaining royal titles after emails emerged displaying he had remained in touch with convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein longer than he beforehand admitted.
Giuffre’s household welcomed information of the duke’s demise however stated King Charles III ought to go additional and strip Andrew’s title as prince. Giuffre died by suicide in April on the age of 41.
The emails have been the final straw for the Home of Windsor after years of tawdry headlines about Andrew’s dodgy mates and suspicious enterprise offers.
The transfer to insulate the monarchy from Andrew’s scandals has been ongoing since November 2019 when he gave up all of his public duties and charity roles after a disastrous interview when he sought to counter media studies about his friendship with Epstein and deny allegations that he had intercourse with a 17-year-old Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein in 2001.
Andrew was broadly criticized for failing to indicate empathy for Epstein’s victims and for providing unbelievable explanations for his friendship with the disgraced financier.
The BBC interview, during which he stated he reduce off contact with Epstein in 2010, got here again to hang-out him and sowed the seeds for his dukedom demotion when emails emerged final week displaying he emailed Epstein on Feb. 28, 2011. Andrew informed Epstein within the notice that they have been “in this together” and would “have to rise above it.”
The Mail reported that in 2011, because the newspaper was about to publish a now-infamous photograph of the prince together with his arm across the partly naked midriff of Giuffre, Andrew offered his bodyguard with Giuffre’s date of delivery and confidential social safety quantity to search out out if she had a checkered previous.
It is not clear if the officer complied with the request. Giuffre’s household stated she did not have a legal document.
With that report and Giuffre’s posthumous memoir being revealed Tuesday, the scandal won’t quickly evaporate.
British Vitality Secretary Ed Miliband, who was serving as the federal government’s consultant on the Sunday morning information applications, stated a police officer shouldn’t be enlisted in a smear marketing campaign.
“These are deeply concerning allegations,” Miliband told the BBC. “I think people want to look at those allegations and what the substance is behind them. But if that is correct, that is absolutely not the way that close protection officers should be used.”
Andrew in 2022 reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre after she filed a civil swimsuit towards him in New York. Whereas he didn’t admit wrongdoing, Andrew did acknowledge Giuffre’s struggling as a sufferer of intercourse trafficking.
In his assertion Friday, Andrew stated he continues to “vigorously deny” the accusations.
