- Virginia Roberts alleges she was forced to have sex with the Duke of York
- She says she was used as a 'sex slave' at an orgy when she was under age
- Her father said royal should face court if his daughter's claims were true
- The Palace denies Andrew had any sexual contact with Miss Roberts
- Sky Roberts also claims his daughter was introduced to the Queen
- Buckingham Palace says it has 'no record of such a meeting'
The father of the woman who alleges she was forced to have under-age sex with Prince Andrew said yesterday that he should be prosecuted if the claims were true.
Sky Roberts, 58, also claimed his daughter Virginia had been introduced to the Queen while visiting London with billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr Roberts spoke out to support his daughter, who is now 30, and said her claims should be tested in court.
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Sky Roberts (left), the father of the woman (right, Virginia Roberts aged seven) who alleges she was forced to have under-age sex with Prince Andrew, said he he should be prosecuted if the claims were true
Buckingham Palace has emphatically denied that Andrew had any sexual contact with Miss Roberts.
Her father said: ‘I brought up my children and that includes Virginia to always tell the truth … Why would she lie?’
Mr Roberts added: ‘Virginia told me a few years back that she met Prince Andrew when she went to London and she also said while they were there she met the Queen … [Virginia] had been flown to London by Jeffrey. He would fly her all over the world and she would give him massages on his private jet.’
The claim of a meeting with the Queen has not been made by Miss Roberts herself. A Palace spokesman said: ‘There is nothing to suggest that this claim is true. We have no record of such a meeting.’
Prince Andrew vehemently denies the claims made in a new legal action by Miss Roberts that he abused her as an under-age girl at an orgy where she was being used as a ‘sex slave’.
Prince Andrew photographed with Virginia Roberts in 2001
The legal allegation states that Miss Roberts was ‘forced’ to have sex with the royal at parties in London, New York and the Caribbean. She claims she was told to ‘give the prince whatever he demanded’ by his friend Epstein – the US paedophile who hosted the parties – and that she was converted ‘into what is commonly referred to as a sex slave’.
Mr Roberts, who lives on a five-acre ranch in Summerfield, near Ocala, Florida, said he had never talked to his daughter about her allegedly being kept as a sex slave by Epstein and loaned out to other rich men.
But he insisted that if Prince Andrew did have sex with his daughter when she was 17 and under the legal age limit, he should be prosecuted.
‘I don’t care if he is a prince or the guy who lives down the road … it should not have happened and they must face the consequences,’ he said. ‘Having under-age sex is against the law and he should be prosecuted.’
Mr Roberts, who divorced from Virginia’s mother Lynn eight years ago, said he has not spoken to his daughter in three months. Miss Roberts and husband Robert left their home in Titusville, Florida, and are now in Colorado.
Her father said he never suspected she was being abused by Epstein and his friends; adding: ‘At the time we thought it was all OK. Virginia never once said anything about any sexual activity. I never asked her because I did not think that was going on.
‘Mr Epstein seemed an upstanding kind of guy. She would go to his house in Palm Beach but always come home. When he started flying her all over the world we just thought what a life she was having … All Virginia ever said was that she was hired to give massages.’
He said his daughter was never in trouble with police and avoided any involvement in drugs while growing up in California and Loxahatchee, Florida.
Mr Roberts also claims his daughter (right) was introduced to the Queen. Left, Prince Andrew with former friend Jeffrey Epstein in 2011
Prince Andrew was seen leaving Verbier ski resort in Switzerland today as he made his way back to the UK
Marriage: Miss Roberts pictured with her husband Robert on their wedding day in Thailand in 2002
‘There was one occasion when she was taken to hospital with alcohol poisoning … She was about 15 years old. That was the only time she had been in trouble. Growing up she had everything she wanted. It was a good family life with her brothers Sky [now 25] and Daniel [now 35].’
Mr Roberts, who is retired, admitted he has not read any of the allegations made by his daughter and avoided reading her account in 2011, when she waived her right to anonymity and talked about her time with Epstein.
He said: ‘I still don’t want to know. Virginia has never talked about it with me, as it’s not the sort of thing a father wants to hear from his daughter. I might be putting my head in the sand, but that is the way I want it … What Virginia did back then is in the past.’
Mr Roberts said he visited her several times when she lived in Australia. She moved back to the US 18 months ago to be closer to her family.
In court documents, Miss Roberts – who is not named – says she was ‘procured for sexual activities’ for Epstein by Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite daughter of crooked tycoon Robert Maxwell.
Miss Maxwell is alleged to have facilitated the prince’s ‘abuse’ of the girl. The legal documents, lodged with a Florida court, name Miss Maxwell as a ‘madame’ and a ‘primary co-conspirator in [Epstein’s] sexual abuse and sex trafficking scheme’. She has previously branded all claims against her as ‘untrue’ and ‘obvious lies’. The court papers name Andrew, 54, as one of three men allegedly involved in abusing ‘Jane Doe #3’ when she was 17 – under-age according to Florida state law.
Epstein, a long-term friend of Andrew, was jailed for 13 months in 2008 for soliciting girls for under-age prostitution. The pair remained friends and were seen together in 2011 after Epstein’s release.
On Friday a Buckingham Palace spokesman said ‘any suggestion of impropriety with under-age minors is categorically untrue’.
Andrew’s accuser countered the statement, saying via her lawyers that she is an ‘innocent victim’ and: ‘I’m not going to be bullied back into silence.’
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