No further action after London police conduct Prince Andrew review

In this file photo from 2019, Virginia Giuffre, who says she was trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court in New York. - Copyright Bebeto Matthews / AP

By Josephine Joly with AFP, AP

Published on 11/10/2021 - 17:41

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The review was prompted by Virginia Giuffre's civil claim that she was forced to have sexual relations with the Duke of York when she was 17.

London’s Metropolitan Police says it will take no further action after reviewing documents related to Prince Andrew.

It was prompted by Virginia Giuffre's civil claim that she was forced to have sexual relations with the Duke of York when she was 17.

The alleged assault was said to have taken place in 2001 at the home of Ghislaine Maxwell, former partner to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Duke of York and Maxwell have denied the claims against them, with Buckingham Palace calling the claims "false and without foundation".

After Giuffre filed the lawsuit in August, Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said that "no one is above the law" and that she and her team will take another look at the material.

Metropolitan Police officers have since questioned the accuser but it is unclear whether they had taken a formal statement from her.

Sigrid McCawley, Giuffre's lawyer, has called for the Metropolitan Police to reopen its investigation and stand by their statement that "no one is above the law", saying that there was "clear and compelling evidence implicating Prince Andrew".

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