The Metropolitan police has rejected calls to launch an investigation into the Duke of York, after the release of court documents relating to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Accusations against 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 fresh 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 will not investigate the documents and suggested they did not contain new information.
The documents, unsealed in two batches Judge 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)”.
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