The Metropolitan Police will not launch an investigation into reports Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor asked an officer to help dig up dirt on the woman who accused him of sexual assault.
The Mail on Sunday claimed in October that Andrew tried to get his personal protection officer to investigate Virginia Giuffre for a smear campaign in 2011.
He reportedly passed Ms Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his taxpayer-funded bodyguard in 2011 and emailed the late Queen’s then-deputy press secretary telling him of his request.
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But the Met said an assessment of the allegations “has not revealed any additional evidence of criminal acts or misconduct”.
Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked by the late Jeffrey Epstein and his then partner Ghislaine Maxwell, alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 in 2001 – allegations he has always denied.
She died in April, aged 41, with her family saying she “lost her life to suicide”.
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The Met said the force first received allegations, including one of trafficking to central London in 2001, and Ms Giuffre was interviewed as part of an assessment of the evidence.
But the force decided not to launch a full criminal investigation in 2016 after officers and prosecutors concluded other international authorities were best placed to act on the allegations, which primarily concerned events outside the UK.
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That decision was reviewed in August 2019 and again in 2021 and 2022; in each instance, the position remained unchanged, and Ms Giuffre and her legal representative were informed.
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Central Specialist Crime Commander Ella Marriott, said the decision was reviewed in August 2019 and again in 2021 and 2022, but the position “remained unchanged”.
“Following recent reporting suggesting that Mr Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor asked his Met Police close protection officer to carry out checks on Ms Giuffre in 2011, the MPS has carried out a further assessment,” she said.
“This assessment has not revealed any additional evidence of criminal acts or misconduct.”
The Met’s announcement comes after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a tranche of images, which include Andrew, from the so-called Epstein files. There is no suggestion that the pictures imply any wrongdoing.
Andrew was stripped of his prince title and HRH style last month over the ongoing controversy of his association with Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell after taking his own life while facing allegations of sexually abusing underage girls.
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The former duke paid to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre in 2022, despite insisting he had never met her.
