Cressida Dick orders fresh review into Prince Andrew’s sex abuse allegations

No one is above the law, says Met Chief - as prince is ‘retired’ from public life

Scotland Yard chief Dame Cressida Dick has ordered a fresh review into the Prince Andrew sex abuse allegations as she insisted: “No one is above the law.”

The Met Commissioner made the comments on Thursday as the fallout from Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against the Queen’s son, claiming he sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager, continued.

Ms Giuffre alleges she was trafficked by the Duke of York’s former friend and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Andrew when she was aged 17 and a minor under US law.

Senior royal sources told the Standard that Andrew’s hopes of returning to public life are “impossible” now he is being sued in a US court. He has strenuously denied the allegations.

Royal household insiders say both the Queen and Prince Charles believe it is best “for his own sake” that he continues to keep “a low profile.”

Discussing the allegations, Dame Cressida told Nick Ferrari on LBC on Thursday that a review into the case is underway but no investigation is taking place.

“No one is above the law,” she said. “It’s been reviewed twice before, we’ve worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, we are of course open to working with authorities overseas, we will give them every assistance if they ask us for anything within the law obviously. As a result of what’s going on, I’ve asked my team to have another look at the material.”

Senior royal sources told the Standard that Andrew’s hopes of returning to public life are “impossible” now
PA Archive

Disgraced businessman Epstein died in a US prison in August 2019. Andrew has effectively been “retired” as the allegations continue to hang over him, one senior figure told the Standard.

“As it stands, despite the Duke of York’s genuine desire to assist the Queen in the wake of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, both the Prince of Wales, who is after all the new patriarch of the family as well as heir to the throne, and Her Majesty have a duty to protect the institution and its reputation. So a return to public life by the Duke York is off the agenda,” the senior figure said. “Of course they both love the Duke of York and believe his story ... but as it stands keeping a low profile and taking his lawyers’ advice is the only option.

“Nobody knows how long this case could drag on for, but while it is out there, this is the only option.”

Whilst both Charles and the Queen are “sympathetic” to Andrew’s plight, they are agreed that unless Ms Giuffre’s case against Andrew is unsuccessful, he will effectively be “retired”.

Prince Andrew with the Queen at Balmoral in 1960
PA Archive

A spokesman for the duke said there was “no comment” when asked to respond to Ms Giuffre’s legal action.

Andrew stepped back from public duties after the backlash from his 2019 Newsnight interview, dubbed a “car crash”, which had attempted to draw a line under his relationship with Epstein — but instead saw him heavily criticised for showing little empathy with the sex offender’s victims.

Lawyers for Ms Giuffre, who was known as Virginia Roberts, this week filed the civil suit seeking unspecified damages at a federal court in New York, where the court documents claim she was “lent out for sexual purposes” by Epstein, including while she was still a minor under US law.

Andrew is named as the only defendant in the 15-page suit, brought under New York state’s Child Victims Act, although Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell are mentioned frequently throughout.

It is alleged in the documents that Ms Giuffre was sexually abused while aged under 18 by the Queen’s second son at Maxwell’s home in London, at Epstein’s New York mansion and at other locations including Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands. British socialite Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to sex-trafficking charges in Manhattan federal court, where she faces trial in November.

The case could embroil the duke in a legal battle lasting at least two years, overshadowing the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year. He is at Balmoral with the Queen and is taking his lawyers’ advice as they prepare a way to defend the US lawsuit.

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