On Tuesday evening, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor faced increasing scrutiny as a new police investigation was launched concerning allegations tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s UK activities.
Essex Police is now the fourth law enforcement agency in recent days to confirm it is investigating claims revealed in the recently released Epstein files.
Investigators are currently evaluating information from these explosive documents, which imply that the disgraced financier trafficked victims into the UK on private flights through Stansted Airport.
This new investigation intensifies the pressure on the former Duke of York, who is prominently mentioned in the set of documents.
An Essex Police spokesperson stated, “We are reviewing the information that has come to light regarding private flights in and out of Stansted Airport, following the release of the US Department of Justice’s Epstein files.”
The flight logs reveal that Epstein’s notorious Lolita Express made up to 90 stops at UK airports from the 1990s up until 2018.
There are growing calls for a criminal investigation into the former prince after a series of embarrassing revelations were unearthed in the files.
Chiefs at Thames Valley Police are already assessing claims that Epstein sent a young woman to the UK for a sexual encounter with Andrew at his Royal Lodge home in Windsor in 2010.
Pressure mounted on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Tuesday night as another police probe was launched into claims linked to Jeffrey Epstein’s activities in the UK
Ghislaine Maxwell (left) and Jeffrey Epstein (right) on board a private jet. Some 90 flights came in and out of UK airports with suspected sex trafficking victims on board
Jeffrey Epstein’s plane, the so-called Lolita Express, which jetted into and out of the UK and was used by the paedophile financier to traffic women and girls around the world
Detectives at Thames Valley Police are further said to be examining whether or not Andrew should be investigated for the offence of misconduct in public office over allegations he forwarded confidential reports while a trade envoy for the UK.
Andrew, who was stripped of his remaining royal titles over his links to Epstein last year, served as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment from 2001 to 2011.
The role allowed him to travel around the world at the taxpayers’ expense and gave him privileged access to senior political and business figures.
However, emails appear to show that he – like Peter Mandelson – used the position to forward official documents, including sensitive information, to Epstein.
The disgraced financier took his own life while awaiting his sex-trafficking trial in prison in 2019.
Surrey Police is also understood to be seeking unredacted files in relation to a separate historic abuse allegation found in the files against Andrew.
A bombshell email from Ghislaine Maxwell confirmed that this infamous 2001 photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around his chief accuser Virginia Giuffre was genuine
Another room inside Epstein’s private jet. The Boeing plane was used primarily to fly young victims between Epstein’s lavish homes
Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck and Jeffrey Epstein are seen at a party at the Mar-a-Lago club in 2000
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police has already launched a criminal probe into Mandelson over claims he leaked confidential information to Epstein while serving as business secretary in 2009.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown said last week that the police ‘urgently’ needed to examine if victims were trafficked on Epstein’s flights to the UK.
He said Andrew should be interviewed as part of the inquiry and added that Stansted was an airport ‘where women were transferred from one Epstein plane to another’.
Previous reports claim that three British women who were allegedly trafficked appear in Epstein’s records of flights in and out of the UK.
Mr Brown said the scale of trafficking would ‘become apparent’ if an investigation had been conducted into the flights.
Police chiefs have joined forces to deal with the series of allegations unearthed in the files, including their inquiries into Mandelson and Andrew, by setting up a ‘national co-ordination’ group.
Set up by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the unit could be granted access to unredacted Epstein files and will allow detectives to work with experts in the areas being assessed.
It is understood to be chaired by Louisa Rolfe, who has served as a Met Police assistant commissioner.
On Tuesday, Liam Byrne, the Labour chairman of the cross-party business and trade committee, said it was possible MPs could investigate Andrew over his time as trade envoy.
Andrew attends the Easter service at St George’s Chapel on April 20 last year
Pictured: The rear interior of Epstein’s Boeing 727-100, complete with a double bed, recliner chair and red velvet sofas
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I can guarantee you that MPs are not in the market for letting anything slip through the cracks.’
And on Tuesday night a US lawyer who represented Virginia Giuffre called for Andrew to be given ‘safe passage’ to give evidence over Jeffrey Epstein.
David Boies said on Piers Morgan Uncensored: ‘He’s got an obligation to tell what he knows.
‘If he’s afraid of being arrested in the US, we ought to give him safe passage to come to testify, because we don’t want there to be any excuse for him not coming.
‘We know he knows a lot… and he has an obligation to share that.’
The former duke has always denied any wrongdoing.
