Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Roberts ‘running out of hope’ he’ll be convicted and says ‘anyone else would be in jail’
PRINCE Andrew accuser Virgina Roberts has said she is "running out of hope" he'll be convicted and that "anyone else would be in jail".
Roberts was a victim of late financier and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and has alleged that she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew when aged only 17.
The prince has long faced questions about his association with Epstein, who killed himself last August while awaiting sex trafficking charges.
Roberts claims she was made to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, once in London, once in New York, and once on Epstein's private Caribbean Island.
A photo that Roberts says was taken in London before the first occasion shows Andrew with his arm around her waist.
Andrew has "vehemently" denied any wrongdoing.
There have also been claims that women besides Roberts were forced to have sex with the prince, though none of those women have been named.
Prosecutors continuing to investigate Epstein's crimes in the US say they have made repeated requests to interview Andrew over the last year, but no interview has yet taken place.
Taking to twitter this morning, Roberts wrote: "All the evidence you could poke a stick [at] and yet the justice system defends a known predator who just happens to be a prince, anyone else would be thrown into jail.
"He knew I had no choice- he knew I was being trafficked- gifted to him.
"Nothings all right. Running out of hope."
Roberts has previously called on the British public to "stand beside her" and "not accept what has happened" to her.
PROBE INTO CO-CONSPIRATORS 'REMAINS ACTIVE'
Roberts's comments come after court filings revealed that a probe into Epstein's sex trafficking network "remains active” and could lead to the arrest of his “co-conspirators”.
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who is alleged to have acted as a madam to Epstein, is still the only one of his former associates to have been charged.
Roberts says it was Maxwell who first approached her when she was working as a waitress at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in the summer of 2000 and offered her a job working as a masseuse for Epstein.
Maxwell is currently being held in New York awaiting trial on charges of enticement of minors, sex trafficking of children, and perjury.
She also denies wrongdoing.
In court filings cited by the , federal prosecutors said: “As the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has stated publicly, the investigation into the conduct of the defendant in this case and other possible co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein remains active.
“The full scope and details of that investigation, however, have not been made public.”
Last August, US attorney general William Barr vowed to carry on the case against anyone who helped Epstein abuse young women.
“Any co-conspirators should not rest easy,” he said.
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Responding to Roberts's comments on twitter, a source close to the prince said: “The for-profit commercial lawyers advising Virginia Roberts and others need to better consider the implications of what they are advising their clients to say - especially in the public domain.
"There is such a thing as due process and a burden of proof.”
