Prince Andrew spotted for the first time since paedo pal Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide as he goes to Balmoral church with Queen
PRINCE Andrew has been spotted for the first time since his paedo pal Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan Jail.
The Duke of York grimaced as he sat with the Queen on the way to church in Balmoral, Scotland.
Epstein’s death came just hours after one of his former sex slaves accused Prince Andrew of licking her toes when she was just a teenager.
The manuscript by former masseuse Virginia Roberts is among 2,000 legal documents released just hours before his death.
It details three alleged sexual encounters with the Duke of York.
Andrew, who is currently on holiday with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and the Queen in Balmoral, strenuously denies any sexual contact with Virginia — whose surname is now Giuffre.
She says she first met the royal dad of two on a trip to London in 2001 when she was 17.
Financier Epstein was initially thought to have taken his own life, days after he was taken off suicide watch.
But on Saturday night suspicions were mounting that he was attacked.
Prison guards in New York found Epstein — who was suspected of heading a global sex-trafficking network — in cardiac arrest at 6.30am local time on Saturday.
On Friday, a court in Manhattan released a 1,200-page dossier detailing lurid abuse allegations against him. The explosive papers also named some of the world’s elite leaders and politicians.
‘THERE’S NO WAY HE KILLED HIMSELF’
But reports suggesting Epstein had killed himself were immediately questioned, with experts asking why such a high-profile prisoner was not under surveillance.
And Saturday night an FBI probe was under way into the death.
It was claimed Epstein had mysteriously been taken off 24-hour suicide watch despite a similar incident late last month — meaning there was no CCTV in his cell.
One of Epstein’s long-time advisers and closest friends said he had predicted that the ex-investment banker would be dead within a couple of weeks.
The man, who did not want to be named, told The Sun on Sunday: “There’s no way he killed himself.
“In a maximum-security confinement it’s impossible that Jeffrey took his own life.
“I know for a fact many people are breathing a sigh of relief today because they feared what would come out in court.”
Another former employee, who worked for Epstein on his private isle in the US Virgin Islands, added: “I don’t think he’d commit suicide. He was able to afford the best lawyers.”
Pictures showed an unconscious Epstein being wheeled out of the jail on a trolley by paramedics.
Jeffrey Epstein dead aged 66 – Victims slam billionaire paedo for avoiding justice after he killed himself in prison
He was pronounced dead an hour later at New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital.
The Bureau of Prisons said he was “found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit from an apparent suicide”.
Epstein was previously found lying in a foetal position with neck marks after a suspected suicide bid on July 23 — but cops probed claims he may have been attacked.
Authorities placed him on suicide watch as they tried to establish whether he had been targeted.
One witness claimed Epstein was “blue in the face” and semi-conscious while “sprawled out on the floor” of his cell on that occasion.
James Gagliano, a retired FBI supervisory special agent, called Epstein’s death “incomprehensible” – as his former agency launched a formal investigation. He said: “The people you have to watch most are the folks who have the most to lose. Meaning very rich people, prominent people, public figures.”
You expect security not only to be stiff, but that if someone tries to commit suicide, they should be under 24-hour watch by authorities
Paul Callan, American Legal Analyst
US Attorney General William Barr — whose dad hired Epstein to teach maths in the 1970s — said the death mystery raised “serious questions which must be answered”.
He said: “In addition to the FBI’s investigation, I have consulted with the Inspector General who is opening an investigation into the circumstances of the death.”
Paul Callan, an American legal analyst, added: “You expect security not only to be stiff, but that if someone tries to commit suicide, they should be under 24-hour watch by authorities.
“This is an egregious lapse of security. I think heads are going to roll.” Sources said Epstein was taken off suicide watch on July 29. He had undergone daily psychiatric evaluation.
He was reportedly in solitary confinement following threats from inmates.
He was arrested on July 6, accused of sex trafficking dozens of girls as young as 14 — abusing them during massage sessions. He allegedly got the girls to recruit other teenagers.
Cops raided his seven-storey £62million Manhattan home and found rooms stuffed with sex toys and thousands of pictures of naked women and girls.
Some were in a locked safe, on disks labelled “young” and “Girl pics nude”.
The convicted paedophile, previously jailed in 2008, was placed in a cell three doors down from Mexican Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The drugs lord was then transferred to a supermaximum security prison in Colorado.
Epstein was said to have been in his cell for 23 hours each day.
Less than 24 hours before his death, almost 2,000 documents were unsealed in a legal tangle between Brit socialite Ghislaine Maxwell — Epstein’s ex-lover — and Virginia Giuffre.
Ms Giuffre has alleged that she was procured by “madame” Maxwell, 57, the daughter of disgraced tycoon Robert Maxwell, as a teenage “sex slave” for Epstein.
ROBBED OF JUSTICE
In previous court claims, she alleged she was loaned out to Prince Andrew for sex when she was a teen.
Buckingham Palace has always strenuously denied the allegations.
Named in the court papers on Friday — along with Prince Andrew, 59 — were former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and financier Glenn Dubin.
Ms Giuffre has previously claimed that a “foreign president” and a “well-known prime minister” were caught up in the sordid affair.
Legal sources insisted that Epstein’s death does not stop investigators probing any co-conspirators or anyone who covered up crimes he committed.
But victims of the serial abuser, who previously served just 13 months on prostitution charges, said they had been robbed of justice.
Lawyer Brad Edwards, who represented two dozen Epstein accusers, including Giuffre, said it was “not the ending anyone was looking for”.
He added: “The victims deserved to see Epstein held accountable.”
Will truth emerge on Duke?
By Sharon Churcher, the journalist who broke the story
FOR Prince Andrew, the death of Jeffrey Epstein will come as a huge shock.
There can be little doubt they were close — their friendship endured despite Epstein’s time in jail in 2008 when he served 13 months after admitting soliciting a prostitute and procuring a girl under 18 for prostitution.
There are 16 numbers for the Duke of York in Epstein’s contacts book.
Described as the “Holy Grail” in an FBI affidavit, it was expected to be a key piece of evidence at the financier’s sex trafficking trial.
Claims in US court documents, strenuously denied by Buckingham Palace, that the billionaire paedophile arranged for his teen “sex slave” Virginia Giuffre to entertain the Queen’s son with a romp in a London bathtub have been a crucial part of the investigation into Epstein’s sleazy operation.
Just days after I broke the story of Giuffre’s claims, FBI agents flew to Australia to interview her.
She told me she would fully co-operate with them — but then burst into tears as she said Epstein had employed goons to try to scare her into silence.
Epstein’s billions undoubtedly played a role in preventing witnesses from coming forward — so now the truth perhaps will finally emerge.
Jeffrey Epstein’s teen alleged victim speaks in police interview video