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Police said on Tuesday they were “assessing” information in the Jeffrey Epstein files released by the US authorities about private flights in and out of Stansted airport outside London.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown last week called for an inquiry after stating that Epstein, the convicted sex offender, used Stansted to traffic girls to and from the UK.
Brown said in an article for the New Statesman that the allegations about Stansted meant that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince and brother of King Charles, should be interviewed by police.
There are more than 80 references to Stansted in the Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice following its investigation into the disgraced financier, who was found dead in a New York prison cell in 2019. He was awaiting trial at the time for sexual abuse against underage girls.
Essex Police is among at least four UK forces assessing or investigating information from the files.
It said: “We are assessing the information that has emerged in relation to private flights into and out of Stansted airport following the publication of the US DoJ Epstein files.”
The force gave no names for anyone it might interview as part of its assessment.
Brown said in his article that the Epstein files contained a reference to a young woman arriving in the UK via Stansted, with the email sent by the billionaire titled “the girl” where she is described as “just turned 18” and measuring “179cm” in height.
Other references include one from November 2012 in which an undisclosed sender discusses with Epstein arrangements for having a Russian woman without a UK visa transfer between aircraft at the airport.
Another email from 2012 shows Epstein asking about arrangements for taking a person whose name is redacted by a combination of the Eurostar train and taxi from Paris to Stansted.
MAG, Stansted’s owner, said on Tuesday that private jet operations at the facility were handled by independent companies. It added that private jet passengers never entered the main airport terminal.
Thames Valley Police, which covers Windsor, where Mountbatten-Windsor until recently lived, said earlier this month it was assessing information from a US lawyer representing a woman claiming to have been trafficked to the UK to have sex with him in 2010.
The same force has said it was assessing information about a potential offence of misconduct in public office relating to Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct while a special representative for UK trade and investment, a role he held between 2001 and 2011.
Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently denied any sexual or business wrongdoing in his links with Epstein.
Mountbatten-Windsor did not respond to a request for comment on the latest allegations on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Peter Campbell