The Metropolitan police has rejected calls to launch an investigation into Prince Andrew, after the release of court documents relating to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Accusations against Prince Andrew, including allegedly groping a woman’s breast during an encounter involving a puppet version of the prince and claims he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was 17, were given a new airing in the unsealing of 1,200 pages by a US court.
The Duke of York has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Scotland Yard said it would not investigate the documents and suggested they did not contain new information.
The documents, unsealed in two batches by judge Loretta Preska, identify numerous Epstein associates, including Andrew, mentioned in proceedings of a case Giuffre filed against Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015.
In a statement, the Met said: “We are aware of the release of court documents in relation to Jeffrey Epstein. As with any matter, should new and relevant information be brought to our attention we will assess it. No investigation has been launched.”
The campaign group Republic, which reported Prince Andrew to the police on Thursday after the release of the documents, said it was dismayed by the Met’s decision.
Its chief executive, Graham Smith, said: “It is appalling. There are clearly grounds for an investigation. Epstein was convicted. Maxwell was convicted. The evidence is that Andrew was involved. Clearly they would investigate this if it was anyone else.”
In one newly unsealed witness statement, Johanna Sjoberg claimed Andrew groped her at Epstein’s house in New York in 2001 when she was aged 20, with Maxwell and Giuffre also present.
In another filing a woman named as Jane Doe #3, who is believed to be Giuffre, alleges she was “forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor in three separate geographical locations: in London (at Ghislaine Maxwell’s apartment), in New York and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands (in an orgy with numerous other underaged girls)”.
Smith said: “There is some new detail in these documents and there are new accusations, for example the [alleged] underaged orgy on Epstein’s island. I believe that sexual offences committed overseas can be prosecuted in the UK.
“There has always been grounds for serious investigation, and the police haven’t done that. There needs to be questions asked as to why they aren’t investigating this, given the significance of the accusations and the fact that Ghislaine Maxwell has already been convicted for related offences.”
The duke stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein, and settled the sexual assault case filed against him by Giuffre for an undisclosed sum.
He was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style after Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the documents as Andrew is no longer a working royal. In a previous statement about links to Epstein, the palace said Andrew “deplores the exploitation of any human being and the suggestion he would condone, participate in or encourage any such behaviour is abhorrent”.
So far 59 out of about 250 documents have been released in connection with the case.
