A picture of Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts (centre), along with Ghislaine Maxwell, said to have been taken in early 2001
(Picture: Virginia Roberts)The Met Police has said it has no plans to re-examine allegations of sexual assault against Prince Andrew following the Duke of York’s settlement with Virginia Giuffre.
Scotland Yard dropped its investigation into Andrew in October 2021, saying they would take “no further action”.
That decision has been thrown back into the spotlight following Tuesday’s revelation that the Duke of York had reached a settlement with Ms Giuffre, who accused him in a civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting her on three separate occasions when she was 17. Andrew has always denied the claims.
The settlement did however lead some to call for the UK case to be reopened.
They included Andrew’s biographer, Nigel Cawthorne, who told Newsweek: “There should be a police investigation into Prince Andrew. There are a couple of outstanding matters.
“One is that the US Department of Justice has asked the British Government for their co-operation in interviewing Prince Andrew.
“The other is whether the new commissioner of the Metropolitan Police will investigate this matter.”
Dame Cressida Dick announced last week that she was stepping down after saying Mayor of London Sadiq Khan “no longer had sufficient confidence” in her leadership of the Met. The Standard revealed on Wednesday that her successor is unlikely to be in place for months.
Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt tweeted: “With the Giuffre case settled, Prince Andrew can now focus on talking to the FBI about his friend Epstein - 818 days after he first promised to do so.”
Senior police officers are believed to have examined allegations made by Ms Giuffre, now 38, at least three times since 2015.
However, in relation to whether the Met would take any further action, a spokesman told the Standard: “Our response has not changed.”
The terms of the settlement between Andrew and Ms Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts, have not been disclosed.
A statement from both parties did however say that the Prince plans to make a “substantial donation” to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.
The Telegraph reported that the total amount that the victim and her charity will receive will actually exceed £12million.
However, royal finances expert David McClure said on Wednesday he thought the payout the Duke of York is set to make to his accuser Ms Giuffre was likely to be about £5 million.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme about reports the payout could be worth more than £10 million, Mr McClure said: “That story has come from The Daily Telegraph today and I think they said £12 million, which I think is a little bit over the top, quite frankly.
“Before that, there was speculation that it was more like £5 million, which might be closer to the truth.”
Mr McClure said he felt strongly that there was a “public right to know” about the “rough” size of the settlement, adding: “I don’t think this should be a state secret.”
The author said he expected Andrew would “more than likely probably have to turn to the Queen” for assistance in paying the out-of-court settlement in the civil sex claim against him.
“I think if the figure does turn out to be in the order of £5-10 million, I don’t think he has that money and I think it is more than likely the Queen will fork out some money,” he added.
