Prince Andrew needs to be fully investigated, Giuffre family says
- Published
The family of Virginia Giuffre has told the BBC the Duke of York needs to be fully investigated over allegations he sexually abused her.
"It doesn't matter if it's a Royal Family member or president or prince... every single person deserves to be held to the fullest extent of the law," Sky Roberts, Giuffre's brother, told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.
Giuffre was one of the most prominent victims of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. In 2001, at the age of 17, she said Epstein introduced her to Prince Andrew, who she said sexually abused her three times.
The prince, who has denied all claims against him, reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022 which contained no admission of liability or apology.
BBC News has asked the prince for comment.
Prince Andrew stepped back from royal duties in 2019 because of the Epstein scandal and after growing backlash from a BBC Newsnight interview about his friendship with the convicted paedophile.
But a visibly emotional Mr Roberts told the BBC he felt the prince "had not gotten enough from this".
"Of course he's been stripped of... all of these different things and publicly shamed in certain ways, but that's not enough," he said.
"The fact that he's still out there, that he's still living in a palace or a castle is not enough.
"It's time we put every single person, whether you're a royal, Prince Andrew, you need to be fully investigated, and if it is found that you had any participation, you need to be put behind bars for the rest of your life."
Speaking alongside his wife, Amanda Roberts, they said the Royal Family had not reached out to them.
Mrs Roberts said she felt there was "more that's going to come to light... every single person who knows they've harmed her, they have to live with that".
"I think we're right on the precipice of seeing all of those skeletons start to come to surface," she said, though it was not clear if she was referring specifically to Prince Andrew.
"You know what you've done and that is for you to live with," she said.
Giuffre took her own life in April after many years of campaigning.
The couple also told the BBC that Lord Mandelson should never have been given the position of the UK ambassador to the United States.
Lord Mandelson was sacked earlier this week after a cache of emails between him and Epstein was published by Bloomberg, revealing the extent of their contacts and relationship.
The interview also touched upon US President Donald Trump's relationship with Epstein. Giuffre alleged that she was abused by Epstein after she met Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, in 2000 while working as a locker room attendant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
The couple said that associates of Epstein who contributed to his recently published birthday book, including Trump, needed to be investigated.
"I think anybody that's in that book, including President Trump, should be completely and 100% investigated, and if it is found, then should be held to the fullest extent of the law," Mr Roberts said.
Entries from 40 people in the book, divided into several categories such as "friends", "business", "science" and "Brooklyn", were published, though the names under "family" and "girl friends" were redacted.
These people are not accused of any legal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein's case.
The White House has denied that the alleged letter from Trump to Epstein is authentic.
Giuffre's brother also urged Trump to release the remaining so-called Epstein files.
"If he's not implicated in this, then he needs to do the right thing. And the right thing right now is to release the documents, give the accountability to the survivors, and give accountability to my sister," he said.
In response, a White House spokeswoman hit out at what she described as "fake news" and told the BBC "it's not news that Epstein knew Donald Trump, because Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of his club for being a creep."
"Democrats and the media knew about Epstein and his victims for years and did nothing to help them while President Trump was calling for transparency, and is now delivering on it with thousands of pages of documents," she added.