Labour ex-prime minister Gordon Brown has called for police to interview Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over a reported sex-trafficking network in and out of the UK run by his friend Jeffrey Epstein.
He has asked the Metropolitan Police urgently to re-examine their decision-making in their investigation into whether Epstein’s victims were trafficked to Britain, and called for a full inquiry.
Nearly 90 flights linked to the convicted sex offender had arrived at or left from UK airports between the early 1990s and 2018, some with British women onboard who say they were abused by Epstein, according to a BBC investigation in December.
The former prime minister says he has discovered more evidence of Epstein’s trafficking network in Britain, including girls arriving at Stansted airport from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia on flights paid for by convicted paedophile Epstein.
The King’s brother must be interviewed as part of a full investigation, Mr Brown insisted, saying he was shocked to the core by the evidence of flights carrying women who were trafficked.
Mr Brown wrote in The New Statesman that at least one of the flights was linked to Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, saying: “I have been told privately that the investigations related to the former Prince Andrew did not properly check vital evidence of flights. I have asked the police to look at this as part of the new inquiry.
“The Stansted revelations alone require them to interview Andrew.”
Thames Valley Police are already in talks with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over allegations that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor shared with Epstein confidential reports in his role as a UK trade envoy.
The former chancellor and PM wrote that it appeared from emails in the Epstein files that a number of British girls were on dozens of flights organised from UK airports on Epstein’s so-called “Lolita Express”. Visas were issued and payments made to transport them, he said.
Some 15 of the flights were approved after Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008, he added.
The messages revealed “in graphic detail” how Epstein used Stansted to traffick girls from Eastern Europe.
One email, headed “the girl”, described a young woman as “just turned 18, 179cm, very cute, speaks English” and adds: “I saw her in real 3 years ago… i will send you the video in next email”.
The King’s brother, who denies any wrongdoing, was last year stripped of his royal titles, honours and his home, Royal Lodge in Windsor, because of his friendship with Epstein.
Mr Brown also questioned the competence of the British authorities, claiming they had “little or no idea who was being trafficked through our country, and for whom other than Epstein”.
“The evidence suggests some in the UK were complicit in trafficking. This demands a full inquiry,” he wrote.
He added: “I have asked the Met urgently to re-examine their decision-making in their investigation and the subsequent reviews.
“Even women who have been mentioned in the Epstein files, whose names should have been requested months ago from the US Department of Justice, do not appear to have been contacted by British investigators.”
Mr Brown called for the payoff awarded to Peter Mandelson after he was sacked as US ambassador – reportedly more than £40,000 – to go to a fund for victims of crime.
Pressure is mounting on Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to give evidence to the US Congress about what he knew about Epstein’s crimes.
Sky Roberts, brother of Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was sexually assaulted three times by the then-royal, has called for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to fly to the US to answer questions.
In Congress on Wednesday, Ted Lieu, California’s Democratic representative, displayed two pictures of the former prince on all fours crouching over an unidentified woman, asking attorney-general Pam Bondi why they had not been used to prosecute Mr Mountbatten-Windsor.
The former prince paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre in 2022, despite insisting he had never met her.
The Independent has approached Andrew for comment.
