A MYSTERIOUS orange figure has been spotted lurking around Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell the night before his death.

Surveillance footage captured during Epstein’s final moments has led to more questions than answers, with police video experts now proposing a groundbreaking new theory.

A pixelated orange patch can be seen in the CCTV video, released by the US Department of Justice earlier this month.

The shadowy object moves up the stairs as it gradually appears taller as it stays in shot for several seconds.

It then heads in the direction of Epstein’s cell block at the Metropolitan Correctional Center at around 10:40pm.

Just hours later, the 66-year-old convicted sex trafficker was found hanged inside the cell with his death ruled a suicide.

Officials initially said the orange person was a prison guard carrying “linen or inmate clothing” up the stairs.

An earlier report concluded that the footage showed the “last time any CO [corrections officer] approached the only entrance to the SHU tier where Epstein was housed.”

Forensic experts who have analysed the video in recent weeks have a different take on the figure.

They told CBS News as part of an investigation into the jail footage that the figure may have actually been an inmate.

Conor McCourt, a retired NYPD sergeant and forensic video expert, agrees that the orange would be from a prison jumpsuit.

But he believes the figure is clearly wearing the outfit rather than just holding it.

This theory would go against the FBI’s conclusions that no one entered or exited Epstein’s cell as they were not caught on camera.

Experts say this is so hard to prove due to the cameras not being positioned perfectly.

The staircase is almost completely out of view as is the actual entrance to Epstein’s cell, analysis found.

Video forensic expert Jim Safford, along with four other respected professionals in the field, stated: “It is incorrect to assert that someone could not have reached the stairs to his room without being detected.”

Another mystery plaguing experts and conspiracy theorists is a suspicious missing minute from the tapes.

Approximately 11 hours of comprehensive CCTV footage was released, but forensic analysis quickly revealed that the video had been edited multiple times over several hours, with an entire minute missing.

The time code on the screen had jumped forward just before it struck midnight.

When Attorney General Pam Bondi was questioned about the video a few weeks ago, she stated that the Bureau of Prisons informed her it was due to an outdated process that occurred each night when the recordings automatically reset.

Several other discrepancies from the night of the depraved peadophile’s death have fuelled speculation for years now.

Epstein was found unresponsive by guards in his cell who quickly performed CPR before he was rushed to hospital.

He was pronounced dead shortly after with it ruled as suicide by hanging – which was later challenged by his own lawyers.

The jail had been told Epstein should have a cellmate, and that a guard must check on him every 30 minutes.

But on the night he died, his cellmate was transferred and not replaced.

Two guards fell asleep at their desks – and later falsified their records – as it was revealed that Epstein was not checked on as often as required.

Meanwhile, two cameras in front of Epstein’s cell malfunctioned on the evening – while another had its footage found “unusable”.

Protocol was also broken by removing Epstein’s body from his cell and failing to photograph it as it was found.

The Bureau of Prisons mandates that suicide scenes be treated with the “same level of protection as any crime scene in which a death has occurred”.

Epstein’s death came just two weeks after another suspected suicide attempt, when he was discovered unconscious with a bedsheet wrapped around his bruised neck.

I came face-to-face with Epstein – I’m convinced he DIDN’T kill himself

By Chief Foreign Reporter, Katie Davis

JEFFREY Epstein’s “overly self-confident nature” has made a lawyer who represented his victims doubt whether he took his own life.

Spencer Kuvin, who met Epstein several times, said the shamed criminal never thought he had done anything wrong – and arrogantly believed he wouldn’t be jailed.

He told The Sun: “From the times I met him and deposed him, and sat in mediations with him, he never, ever struck me as someone who questioned whether he had done anything wrong.

“He was always overly self-confident in what he had done and his belief that he had never done anything inappropriate at all, ever.

“There was never any inclination that he ever felt he wasn’t going to get out.

“He always felt ‘this is something I got to go through, I’ll be out of here in a flash, it’s not a big deal’.

“So it was rather surprising to me when he died in jail.”

When asked whether he thought Epstein was murdered, Mr Kuvin said: “I don’t know. I’m not one for wild speculation.

“I deal in reality and proof and evidence.

“And what I could tell you is that the evidence is circumstantial but overwhelming that it was not suicide.”