Prince Andrew: US judge targets late 2022 for sexual assault civil trial

Virginia Giuffre, then Roberts, was pictured with Prince Andrew in London in 2001

A US judge in the Prince Andrew sexual assault civil case has said he is aiming to hold the trial in late 2022.

In the latest pre-trial hearing in New York, district judge Lewis Kaplan said he would target October to December 2022, but did not set a specific date.

Virginia Giuffre, 38, has accused Prince Andrew - the Queen's second son - of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.

The 61-year-old duke has consistently denied the allegations.

Ms Giuffre - previously known as Virginia Roberts - was an accuser of the billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison in 2019.

She says she was sexually assaulted by Prince Andrew at the London home of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and at Epstein's homes in Manhattan and Little Saint James, in the US Virgin Islands.

• What are the accusations against Prince Andrew?

The latest court hearing on Wednesday set dates for Prince Andrew's motion to dismiss the case against him and for initial disclosures.

Ms Giuffre's lawyers must reply to the duke's motion to dismiss her case by 29 November, and his lawyers will need to respond to them by 13 December. Initial disclosures in the case are due by 12 November.

Last week, Prince Andrew's lawyers argued the "baseless lawsuit" should be dismissed because Ms Giuffre had failed to detail her claims against him sufficiently.

In the court document filed last Friday, the duke's lawyers said his "sullied reputation" was "only the latest collateral damage of the Epstein scandal" and that Ms Giuffre had launched her legal action "to achieve another payday at his expense and at the expense of those closest to him".

Lawyers for the duke and Ms Giuffre told the court on Wednesday that they would have between eight and 12 witness depositions each.

David Boies, Ms Giuffre's lawyer, said there were several potential witnesses they could not yet identify because he was unsure if he'd be able to get them to appear voluntarily, pointing to timing and location issues.

The judge previously ruled depositions in the case must be submitted by 14 July.

In the US, depositions - or out-of-court testimony - see witnesses interviewed under oath by the other side's lawyers about their version of events.

The prince has consistently denied Ms Giuffre's claims and, in 2019, told BBC Two's Newsnight programme: "I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened."