Andrew posed for pic with puppet of himself groping woman's breast, papers claim
Prince Andrew 'touched a woman's breast while posing with a Spitting Image puppet of himself that groped another woman', shocking court papers have claimed.
The Duke of York has vehemently denied the allegations and is mentioned 67 times in nearly 1,000 pages of interviews and transcripts released in the US in connection with a 2015 defamation case brought by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell.
The names of more than 170 people who were either associates, friends or victims of billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein are being made public following a judge's order last month, including high-profile figures such as former US president Bill Clinton - who has previously said through a spokesperson that while he travelled on Epstein's jet several times, he never visited his homes, did not know about his crimes, and hadn't spoken to him since his conviction. The people listed were those named as associates of Epstein and there is no suggestion those listed either knew about his crimes or participated in any criminal behaviour
Andrew's Spitting Image puppet (ITV/Central/REX/Shutterstock)The duke paid millions a year ago to settle a civil case out of court with Ms Giuffre with no admission of guilt after she accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. In the newly released documents, evidence from Johanna Sjoberg, who worked for Epstein as a masseuse, recounted how Andrew allegedly touched her breast while sitting on a couch inside Epstein's Manhattan apartment as he posed for a photo with a caricature of himself in 2001.
The claim, which has been alleged previously, is thought to refer to a Spitting Image puppet of the duke. Ms Sjoberg said, while giving evidence in May 2016: "Ghislaine told me to come upstairs, and we went into a closet and pulled out the puppet, the caricature of Prince Andrew, and brought it down.
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"And there was a little tag on the puppet that said 'Prince Andrew' on it, and that's when I knew who he was." Ms Sjoberg was asked what the puppet looked like and replied: "It looked like him. And she brought it down and presented it to him; and that was a great joke, because apparently it was a production from a show on BBC.
"And they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch. They put the puppet on Virginia's lap, and I sat on Andrew's lap, and they put the puppet's hand on Virginia’s breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo."
Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein. He was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police have said officers are not investigating allegations against the Duke of York contained in court files relating to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The force issued a short statement on Friday saying it would assess any “new and relevant” information from the documents when it is brought to officers’ attention. Confirming detectives were not investigating claims made in the documents, despite anti-monarchy group Republic reporting allegations made against Andrew, 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."
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