The man who identified the body of Ghislaine Maxwell’s father has said he is stunned how the “sweet, young woman” turned into
a monster.
Ken Lennox, originally from the Isle of Barra, knew the Maxwells well and helped prepare her to speak to the media in the aftermath of Robert Maxwell’s shock death.
The retired photographer is convinced the media mogul’s demise left a void in Ghislaine’s life she would later fill with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Last week Ghislaine, now 60, was found guilty of five of six charges of trafficking and recruiting girls for her former partner, who killed himself in a New York prison in 2019.
Lennox, now 78, said: “It’s clear to me Epstein filled the daddy role for Ghislaine.
“That’s not an excuse for what she has done. I believe she will rightly spend a lot of time in prison for her crimes.
“But while I was following the trial, I just found it very hard to come to terms with what I was hearing about Ghislaine.
“What happened to that sweet, vulnerable girl? I can only guess it was people like Epstein who corrupted her.”
Newspaper snapper Lennox spent years photographing the family and knew them well. He was sent to the Canaries hours after Maxwell disappeared in 1991 and identified the tycoon’s body.
He said: “I spent a lot of time with Ghislaine in the aftermath of Maxwell’s death.
“We got a helicopter from the Mirror offices with the family before catching a private jet to where he was found in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.
“I was sent to accompany the family when he went missing and was brought in to identify him when his body was found.
“Ghislaine was in a real state when we met the next day. She had, I believe, flown in from New York.
“It was clear she was the apple of her dad’s eye.”
Maxwell had named the yacht after his daughter Ghislaine, one of nine children he had.
Ghislaine, then in her late 20s, talked from the yacht. Lennox said: “I had to go and tell the waiting press pack, ‘Ghislaine will talk but she’ll just be reading a statement – any questions will see her dissolve in tears.’ ”
Lennox, who also worked as the official snapper for ex- US president Ronald Reagan and former PM Margaret Thatcher, would go on to accompany the Maxwell family to Israel, where the media mogul was laid to rest.
He said: “I took a picture of Ghislaine cradling a huge pic of her dad in Jerusalem.”
The Maxwell family’s empire slowly crumbled as it became clear how their dad had stolen to feed his appetite for money and power.
And Lennox believes it was the shadow of her dad that would force her into the arms of rapist Epstein.
He added: “I have spent a bit of time around the Epsteins and Maxwells of the world.
“There are certainly parallels between Jeffrey Esptein and Robert Maxwell.”
Ghislaine faces up to 65 years behind bars. A sentencing date has to be decided.
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