Prince Andrew and his involvement in the crimes of sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein - the case just never ends. After the late Queen's second eldest son reached an out-of-court settlement with his alleged abuse victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre last year, he now wants to reverse the agreement and is seeking a new trial to publicly redeem himself.
Andrew is now receiving support from an unfamiliar quarter. Ian Maxwell, older brother of convicted Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, has provided the British newspaper "The Telegraph" with an explosive photo. This was originally intended to be used in his sister's trial, but could now help Prince Andrew by discrediting Virginia Roberts Giuffre as a liar.
The image shows two people fully clothed and sitting in a bathtub with their legs bent. The curious thing: both wear a mask, one photo shows Virgina Roberts Giuffre, the other shows Prince Andrew. The masks were used to protect the identities of those involved, Ian Maxwell said.
It's a reference to a statement by Roberts Giuffre, who claimed in a 2011 interview that she and Andrew got into the bathtub together, he licked her toes, and then they had sex in the bedroom.
Ghislaine Maxwell's brother told the Telegraph: "I am releasing my photos now because the truth must come out. They clearly show that the bathtub is too small for any kind of sexual debauchery. There is no such thing as a 'Victorian bath' , as Giuffre claimed."
In a previous trial between Ghislaine Maxwell and Virginia Roberts Giuffre, court documents said, "It was a beige marble tile floor with a Victorian-style porcelain bathtub in the center of the room." Ian Maxwell now calls these descriptions by Roberts Giuffre a lie. His photo should prove that. It doesn't show a free-standing bathtub, but one in the corner of the room.
Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year, which she is currently serving in Florida. From prison she gave interviews in which she also supported Prince Andrew. Among other things, she spoke about the famous photo that shows him together with Virginia Roberts Giuffre. It is said to have been made at Maxwell's London home in 2001. Like Prince Andrew in his BBC interview in 2019, Maxwell said: "It's a fake. I don't believe for a second that it's real, in fact I'm sure it's not real."
Similarly, Ian Maxwell told The Telegraph: "It doesn't prove anything. Prince Andrew and my sister think it's fake but I don't think it's irrelevant. It just shows Prince Andrew with his arms around a girl who wanted a photo to, as she put it, 'to show her mother'."
Virginia Roberts Giuffre accuses Prince Andrew of repeatedly abusing her as a minor, which the royal has always denied. Before the trial in the US could take place, both parties reached an out-of-court settlement in February 2022. It is said from the royal environment that Andrew was then pressured to settle the case quickly so as not to overshadow his mother's 70th anniversary of the throne. After her death, he now wants to reopen everything to prove his innocence.
Sources: Telegraph, BBC
