It is a quarter of a century since the ugly story of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and the trafficking of Virginia Giuffre began. The result was a life dominated by the fallout from an encounter as a teenager with a callous and controlling financier, who saw young women as sexual commodities to be consumed and traded with wealthy friends. Now, her death by suicide at 41 is a tragic conclusion to those experiences and a tenacious battle for justice which has proved elusive.
Both the main perpetrator and one of his most prominent victims died by their own hand – and only Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s enabler, has ended up in a US jail.
The full truth may well have expired with Giuffre’s passing. Her claim that she had been encouraged by Maxwell to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions in 2001, starting at the age of 17 has brought a squalid end to his role in public life: the picture of the royal with his arm around the young Giuffre’s waist unleashed a long-running conflict over her claims and led to the disastrous interview by Andrew on the BBC’s Newsnight.
Andrew has maintained his innocence, while settling out of court with Giuffre to the tune of millions of pounds – an arrangement I am told was encouraged by the late Queen and Andrew felt strong-armed into putting the matter to rest.
Giuffre, however, remained firm in her allegations and campaigned relentlessly for those involved in the Epstein-Maxwell sex trade to face consequences.
With the exception of Maxwell, none of them did. While her trial unearthed consistent stories from four women that they had been trafficked and abused, having been trained for sex work by her while employed as masseuses for Epstein, the trails of evidence have become hard to follow.
While many A-list names have been cited as regular consorts of Epstein, few of the men allegedly complicit have been named, with the exception of the Duke of York.
That leaves much unrevealed – and many guilty people able to continue their lives in the monied circles in New York and Palm Beach in which Epstein moved.
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Read MoreTenacity in seeking justice and recompense for herself and others who had suffered at Epstein’s hands was undoubted. But her personal life and mental state had unravelled: Giuffre was in the wake of a messy divorce and custody battle when she alleged last month that she had been badly injured in a crash with a bus, in which the driver of her vehicle appears to have been her carer.
The photograph with the prince, whose context and veracity remain contested, nonetheless speaks volumes about a shady world in which very young and naïve women were targeted as consorts for men. The Duke of York is said to have been keen to continue his campaign for rehabilitation and clear his name in the Giuffre case.
That is now vanishingly unlikely. The early death of a figure whose life was soiled by Epstein creates another twist of tragedy – and a legacy of shame for all who colluded with him.
Anne McElvoy is executive editor of POLITICO and host of the Politics at Sam and Anne’s podcast
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