05 January 2024 , 11:15
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Keir Starmer has backed a police probe after sexual assault claims linked to Prince Andrew resurfaced in newly released documents.
Anti-monarchy group Republic submitted a complaint to the Metropolitan Police after the allegations resurfaced. New court documents linked the prince to late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and referred to sexual assault claims. Andrew has always strongly denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Asked if the police should investigate, the Labour leader told LBC: “We have to start with the victims here and look at what allegations have been made… Where there are credible allegations made then of course they should be looked at.”
The Metropolitan Police since said it has not launched an investigation. In a short statement, the force 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."
In 2021, Scotland Yard announced it was taking no action after a review prompted by Virginia Giuffre, who had filed a separate US civil lawsuit against the Prince claiming he sexually assaulted her, which he denied.
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Sexual assault allegations against Andrew, 63, which have resurfaced in newly released court documents, have led to calls for the prince to be grilled again. In the first batch of some 1,000 pages released, the duke was, in allegations aired previously, accused of having an orgy with underage girls, and touching a woman's breast while posing with a puppet of himself.
The previously unseen tranche of legal papers relating to Epstein and connected to a 2015 defamation case brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell was released in the US earlier this week.
The documents also revealed Buckingham Palace's defence of the Duke of York was used in court by disgraced British socialite Maxwell's lawyer. The royal household issued a statement in 2015 in which the Palace "emphatically denied" Andrew had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Ms Giuffre, branding the allegations "false and without foundation".
The resurfacing of the claims against Andrew has strengthened the King's determination there is "no way back" to public royal life for his brother, the Mirror reported last night. Andrew walked to church with the rest of the royal family at Sandringham just over a week and a half ago on Christmas Day, with his appearance viewed as part of a gradual rehabilitation within the monarchy, coming seven months after he was permitted to attend the King's coronation in his grand Garter robes.
Andrew quit as a working royal in 2019 over his friendship with convicted sex offender Epstein and in the wake of his disastrous appearance on Panorama. He was later stripped by his mother Queen Elizabeth II of his honorary military roles, and gave up his HRH style. The duke paid millions to Ms Giuffre to settle a civil sexual assault case out of court with no admission of guilt.