Could Jeffrey Epstein’s young victims in the UK finally get justice?
London-based Channel 4 News recently released an investigation which made allegations that Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell sexually abused and trafficked young girls in Britain for over ten years. In light of the Channel 4 News report, Britain’s Metropolitan Police have confirmed they will review the allegations after previously declining to carry out a criminal investigation into Epstein & Maxwell.
Jeffrey Epstein is a convicted pedophile who was later taken into custody after U.S. federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking. In 2019, he was found dead in his jail cell, and his death was ruled a suicide by medical examiners. British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is currently being held in the U.S. under charges of sex trafficking. She denies grooming girls for Epstein to sexually abuse and will face trial later this year.
These most recent allegations also raise questions about why the Metropolitan Police previously refused to open a criminal investigation into Epstein’s & Maxwell’s activities. They also raise the possibility of Epstein’s victims in the UK finally seeing justice. We’ve got all the details for you here.
Channel 4 News
On Tuesday, Channel 4 News aired their investigation into half a dozen claims of young girls being groomed, abused, and trafficked in the UK by Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell. The investigation collected evidence from “a combination of publicly available documentation, including court papers, witness accounts, and interviews”. It added that there could be many more victims than it initially discovered.
The investigation also took aim at Scotland Yard’s earlier handling of allegations of sex crimes tied to Epstein & Maxwell. It said, “In this country there has been a deafening silence from the metropolitan police. Scotland Yard has seemingly done very little”. The new report could cause that silence to finally break.
Scotland Yard dropped its criminal investigation into Epstein in 2019, saying at the time it “was not the appropriate authority to conduct enquiries”. Because many of Epstein’s alleged crimes took place outside of the UK, authorities said they could drop the case. The new report highlights that the alleged crimes that took place within the UK were well within Scotland Yard’s jurisdiction.
Channel 4 News speculated that a deeper look into the alleged crimes was curbed because of the multi-millionaire pedophile’s ties to Prince Andrew. In 2019, the same year that Scotland Yard dropped their investigation, Prince Andrew was forced to step back from many of his public duties amidst allegations that Jeffrey Epstein had trafficked a young girl to him. Prince Andrew denies any wrongdoing.
Potential for justice
In response to the report from Channel 4 News, the Metropolitan Police have said they will review the allegations against Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell. They released a statement which said they, “always takes allegations of sexual offenses and exploitation seriously” and that they “will always consider any new information and will review the information sent to us from Channel 4”.
Channel 4 News put intense pressure on earlier investigations dropped by the Metropolitan Police Service. They claimed legal experts who reviewed their evidence said that “the allegations provide clear grounds for an investigation and accused the Met Police of failing in their legal duty to launch a full criminal inquiry”.
Whether or not the Metropolitan Police open a new criminal investigation remains to be seen. Ghislaine Maxwell, accused of grooming young girls and luring them into a network of trafficking victims on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein, is currently awaiting trial in the U.S. She has pleaded not-guilty to all the charges, but she is expected to face trial sometime later this year, possibly in the Fall.
