Prince Andrew sex claims ‘without any foundation’
Print Edition
BUCKINGHAM Palace has stepped up efforts to defend Prince Andrew after he became embroiled in claims of sexual impropriety with an underage woman.
In a second statement since the claims surfaced, officials “emphatically denied” that Andrew, 54, had “any form of sexual contact or relationship” with a woman who claimed she was forced to have sex with him in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island when she was under 18.
Yesterday, the palace dismissed the claims as “false and without any foundation.”
The claims, made in a filing to a Florida court last week, were submitted as part of a lengthy lawsuit against American financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The plaintiff, identified as “Jane Doe #3” in court papers, told British newspaper The Guardian she refuses to be “unjustly victimized again” after robust denials of the allegations from the palace and a US attorney named in the lawsuit.
Epstein, a friend of Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, was convicted in 2008 of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution and served a prison term.
No dates for the purported sexual encounters were given, but the woman claimed she was Epstein’s sex slave from 1999 through to 2002.
In a strongly-worded response on Friday, Buckingham Palace said that “any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.”
In a statement issued to The Guardian through her lawyers, the woman said: “These types of aggressive attacks on me are exactly the reason why sexual abuse victims typically remain silent and the reason why I did for a long time. That trend should change. I’m not going to be bullied back into silence.”
The attorney named in the court papers has also robustly protested his innocence.
Alan Dershowitz, one of Epstein’s defense lawyers whom “Jane Doe #3” was allegedly forced to have sex with on several occasions, told reporters the story was “made up.”
He urged Andrew to fight back against the allegations.
“If she’s lied about me, which I know to an absolute certainty she has, she should not be believed about anyone else,” Dershowitz said. “You have to fight back with every resource and ounce of energy available to you.”
He added: “I will swear under oath that it did not happen.”
Andrew, Duke of York, is fifth in line to the British throne. The naval officer flew helicopters in the 1982 Falklands War and was UK’s special representative for international trade and investment for 10 years until 2011.
He gave up the business ambassador post following the intense scrutiny he faced over his relationship with Epstein and other controversial figures.
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