Prince Andrew denies witnessing Epstein abuse

LONDON: Britain’s Prince Andrew insisted on Saturday that “at no stage” during his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein did he “witness... any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest”.

The prince, Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, is under heavy fire over his relationship with the disgraced US financier, and admitted in a statement on Saturday that “it was a mistake and an error to see him after his release in 2010”.

“At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.”

Epstein was found dead in his cell earlier this month, and the prince was once more drawn into the story after a video was released purporting to show him at the criminal’s home in 2010.

Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring for prostitution a girl under the age of 18 and served 13 months in prison before being released on probation.

“I was mistaken to think that what I thought I knew of him was evidently not the real person, given what we now know,” said Andrew.

“This is a difficult time for everyone involved and I am at a loss to be able to understand or explain Mr Epstein’s lifestyle,” he added.

The video was the latest in a string of revelations about Prince Andrew’s friendship with Epstein in British tabloids.

The Mail on Monday said the prince had hosted Epstein at Balmoral, Queen Elizabeth II’s home in Scotland, in 1999 at a time when the monarch may have been in residence.

He also reportedly hosted Epstein at Sandringham, another royal residence in eastern England, a year later.