British police ‘looking into’ claims Prince Andrew tried to smear accuser
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London’s Metropolitan Police force said it was looking into allegations that Prince Andrew tried to smear Ms Virginia Giuffre.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – British police said on Oct 19 they were probing claims that Prince Andrew asked an officer to dig up dirt for a smear campaign against his sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.
The development comes after the Prince on Oct 17 renounced his royal title
London’s Metropolitan Police force said it was looking into allegations in The Mail on Sunday that the Prince tried to smear Ms Giuffre, who accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.
Prince Andrew, 65, has long denied the assault accusations, which have caused considerable embarrassment to the British monarchy and seen him virtually banished from royal life in recent years.
The Mail on Sunday reported that the Prince passed on Ms Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his state-funded police protection officer in 2011 and asked him to investigate.
“We are aware of media reporting and are actively looking into the claims made,” a spokesperson for the Met said in a statement e-mailed to AFP.
Prince Andrew’s request came shortly before the publication of a now-infamous photo taken in London appearing to show him with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist, the paper said.
The Prince reportedly e-mailed the late Queen Elizabeth II’s then deputy press secretary and told him of his request to his bodyguard, which the officer is not said to have acted upon.
The newspaper said it obtained the e-mail from documents held by a US congressional committee.
Ms Giuffre, who accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave, says that she had sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions, including when she was under 18.
The Prince has repeatedly denied Ms Giuffre’s accusations and avoided a trial in a civil lawsuit by paying a multimillion-dollar settlement
The allegations have received renewed focus ahead of the publication next week of Ms Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs.
Ms Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, took her own life in April.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail
Prince Andrew has also given up membership of the prestigious Order of the Garter, the most senior knighthood in the British honours system, which dates to the 1300s.
Ms Giuffre’s brother, Mr Sky Roberts, has urged King Charles to go further and strip Prince Andrew of his right to be a prince.
“I think there’s more that he could do,” Mr Roberts said of the King on ITV News. AFP
