Virginia Roberts’ lawyer brands Ghislaine Maxwell ‘very damaged person’

The lawyer representing Prince Andrew’s sexual assault accuser Virginia Roberts has called Ghislaine Maxwell a “very damaged person”.

The Duke of York paid a purported £10m settlement to Mrs Roberts, now known as Giuffre, last year in a civil case brought against him in the US without accepting liability. He has maintained the innocence of him.

Ms Giuffre’s lawyer, David Boies, said he had no idea why Maxwell and Prince Andrew spoke out publicly, as they “undermined their credibility”.

He told Piers Morgan on Talk TV: “One of the things that’s been a mystery to me throughout this, is with Prince Andrew, with Ghislaine Maxwell is why they say the kinds of things that they do publicly.”

‘It doesn’t help them, it just undermines their credibility.

‘That interview Prince Andrew gave, the interview Ghislaine Maxwell gives from a jail sentence while her case was being appealed.

‘Why the hell would you want to further damage your credibility at that point?

“I think he is a very troublesome person in a very troubling situation.

“I don’t think he ever thought he would end up in jail and it’s very hard to know why he says the kind of things he does now.

“I think he is under tremendous emotional pressure. She is a very damaged person.

“She’s done a lot of horrible things, but it’s hard on a human level not to have some empathy for the pain that I’m sure she’s going through right now.”

Ms. Roberts, who brought the suit under her married name Virginia Giuffre, brought her legal action seeking unspecified damages for assault, including rape, and the infliction of emotional distress.

Despite vowing to fight the charges and repeatedly protesting his innocence, the prince agreed to pay a large sum to settle the case before it went to a jury.

Although the agreement did not contain a formal admission of responsibility by Andrew, nor an apology, it said that he now accepted that Ms. Roberts was a “victim of abuse” and that he regretted his association with Epstein, the disgraced financier who trafficked in countless girls.

He also said the prince accepted that Miss Roberts, now 38, had been the target of “unfair public attacks” and that he never intended to “slander her character”.

Boise’s interview about Ghislaine Maxwell came after she said she thought Andrew had avoided court because the photo of him with Giuffre, then 17, made him a less credible witness, as he maintains they never met. .

Andrew was forced to step away from royal duties in 2019 and is unlikely to take a formal role in his brother’s coronation as a result of the scandal.

Boies told Piers Morgan in an interview on TalkTV that the controversial photograph of the two of them together “made it clear that he couldn’t say he never met her.”

Boies suggested that if a jury had decided that the prince’s claim that he had never met Giuffre was not credible, it would be difficult for them to believe that they had not had sex.

He said: ‘You have their testimony and you have their complete denial. The question is, is it believable or not?

Asked if he thought criminal charges would have been filed, the attorney replied that it was a “clear possibility.”

‘I do not want to say that [he would have been charged] because I think you have to look at what all the evidence is. I haven’t seen enough evidence to know about criminal charges.

Prince Andrew has reportedly put together an £8m war chest to fight the deal he agreed with Ms Giuffre last year to settle a civil case.

The disgraced prince is understood to be planning a comeback that will restore his tarnished reputation, including possible legal action against his sexual abuse accuser, Virginia Giuffre.

He is also reputed to be looking for new staff to build his team as he contemplates moving to the United States.

The furore surrounding the case saw him stripped of his honorary military titles and any return to public life seems unlikely.

According to inside sources, the 62-year-old Duke of York has been watching “very closely” the progress of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the United States.

The 62-year-old was stripped of his royal titles and roles last year, but experts say he is “less concerned” about the situation than people realize.