LONDON: British police confirmed Sunday they are investigating claims that Prince Andrew asked an officer to dig up dirt for a smear campaign against his sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre.
The Metropolitan Police said they were “aware of media reporting and are actively looking into the claims made” according to a statement emailed to AFP.
This development follows Andrew’s Friday renouncement of his royal title under pressure from King Charles III amid ongoing revelations about his ties to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Mail on Sunday reported that Andrew passed Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his state-funded police protection in 2011 and asked him to investigate.
Andrew reportedly emailed the late queen Elizabeth II’s then-deputy press secretary about his request to his bodyguard, which the officer is not said to have acted upon.
The newspaper said it obtained the email from documents held by a US congressional committee.
Andrew’s request came shortly before publication of a now-infamous photo appearing to show the prince with his arm around Giuffre’s waist in London.
Andrew, 65, has long denied Giuffre’s accusations that he sexually assaulted her when she was 17, claims that have caused considerable embarrassment to the monarchy.
Giuffre, who accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave, said she had sex with Andrew on three separate occasions including when she was under 18.
Andrew avoided a trial in a civil lawsuit by paying a multimillion-dollar settlement while repeatedly denying Giuffre’s accusations.
The allegations have received renewed focus ahead of next week’s publication of Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs.
Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, took her own life in April while Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Andrew has also given up membership of the prestigious Order of the Garter, the most senior knighthood in the British honours system dating to the 1300s.
Giuffre’s brother Sky Roberts has urged King Charles to go further and strip Andrew of his right to be a prince, telling ITV News “I think there’s more that he could do.” – AFP
