Pictured: Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein seen in New York’s Central Park
The Manhattan mansion belonging to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was notorious for its revolving cast of guests.
In his ‘car crash’ Newsnight interview, Prince Andrew likened the £60 million property to a ‘railway station’ on account of the sheer volume of visitors. Until now, the royal’s New York sojourn in December 2010 — that proved key to his downfall this week — has largely been shrouded in secrecy.
Today, however, a Daily Mail investigation reveals further details about the extraordinary trip — including a whole new roster of potential witnesses who were present at the time and who could help the ongoing FBI probe into the billionaire’s activities.
Prince Andrew claimed he ‘never saw’ anything there which aroused his suspicions, although there were six women and three men photographed entering and leaving during his stay who could corroborate or disprove his account.
Our exclusive pictures also show what are believed to be three male American protection officers. A closer look shows badges worn by the U.S. diplomatic security detail; their role would most likely have been to protect the visiting royal.
An eyewitness account describes a total of five protection officers that kept a polite distance from Andrew and Epstein as they passed the sealions attraction at the Central Park Zoo.
All of them could provide important testimonies for the investigation.
Here, with the help of our gallery, including previously unpublished photographs, we set out in detail the comings and goings during the Prince’s visit nine years ago. We retraced the pair’s steps during their infamous Central Park walk, during which Andrew claims he ended their association.
Our picture dossier includes close-ups of their intense exchange and a new photograph of them on the glamorous designer shopping street, Madison Avenue.
There is a distinctly frosty atmosphere as the now eighth in line to the throne appears to tap anxiously at his phone while Epstein frowns at his side.
The Duke of York has since admitted it was a mistake to visit the billionaire playboy’s home 17 months after Epstein’s release from jail for child sex offences.
Prince Andrew and Epstein seen after leaving the late financier’s home in Manhattan at around 2.06pm on December 5, 2010
Following his resignation from public duties this week, the Prince signalled he would speak to FBI detectives investigating Epstein as he readied himself for a subpoena from U.S. lawyers demanding he gives evidence under oath.
Our new pictures could help investigators identify potentially vital new witnesses and establish whether the American paedophile was committing offences following his release from prison.
They could also help the beleaguered royal clear his name of alleged wrongdoing. A former head of Scotland Yard’s royalty protection squad, retired Met Chief Supt Dai Davies, said agents must now take statements from protection officers who accompanied Prince Andrew during his numerous trips to see the disgraced American financier, who died in an apparent suicide in a New York City federal jail in August.
THE TIMELINE
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Prince spent at least five days at Epstein’s 21,000 sq ft mansion on this occasion.
It began with him being guest of honour at a dinner party organised by New York party planner Peggy Siegal. It was to celebrate Epstein’s release from an 18-month prison sentence for having sex with underage girls. No doubt it was an attempt to cleanse Epstein’s image and re-integrate him into Manhattan society.
The guest list included film director Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi, Katie Couric, then the highest-paid female TV anchor in America, George Stephanopoulos, a former White House communications director under President Bill Clinton, comedian Chelsea Handler and TV news host Charlie Rose.
Mr Allen and Mr Rose have both been accused of sexual misconduct, unrelated to the Epstein case.
Miss Handler told the New York Times recently that ‘it was just one of those strange nights’.
She said Miss Siegal had not really made clear who was hosting the event, adding: ‘The invitation was positioned as, ‘Do you want to have dinner with Prince Andrew?’
Another attendee was Eva Andersson-Dubin, the wife of financier Glenn Dubin, who has been accused of having sex with Epstein’s alleged victims — he has strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Asked by Newsnight interviewer Emily Maitlis about the party, Andrew said: ‘No, I didn’t go. Oh, in 2010, there certainly wasn’t a party to celebrate his release in December because it was a small dinner party, there were only eight or ten of us I think at the dinner. If there was a party, then I’d know nothing about that’.
Miss Maitlis challenged Andrew: ‘You were invited to that dinner as a guest of honour.’
He replied: ‘Well I was there so there was a dinner, I don’t think it was quite as you might put it but yeah, OK I was there for… I was there at a dinner, yeah.’
Andrew continued his stay at Epstein’s house on Friday, December 3. In the Newsnight interview he downplayed his contact with Epstein: ‘Actually the truth of it is that I actually only saw him for about, what the dinner party, the walk in the park and probably passing in the passage.’
This is what our picture dossier reveals…
Sunday, December 5
11.30am: Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn are seen leaving the East 71st St property, the largest residential home in Manhattan.
11.42am: Susan Hamblin, a long-time confidante of Epstein, is seen leaving. She wears a blue puffer jacket and clutches her mobile phone to her chest, a black designer bag hooked on her arm.
12.07pm: A security guard — wearing sunglasses, grey trousers and a dark jacket — thought to be from the American Diplomatic Security Service, responsible for protecting visiting foreign dignitaries, arrives at the house.
Around 1.40pm: Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein leave the property and head west, entering Central Park on 72nd Street followed by five guards.
Sunday, December 5, 2010. 11.30am: Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn are seen leaving Epstein’s mansion
A witness told the Daily Mail that the protection officers assumed a star-shaped pattern at a distance to give Epstein and Andrew privacy to talk, instead of staying close as they normally do with dignitaries. Our pictures show Andrew making a claw-like motion with his hand as if trying to reason with Epstein, who is striding forwards ahead of him.
Their body language is striking, suggesting Epstein in dominance and Andrew with a more conciliatory stance.
The two men walk south past a children’s playground and through the Central Park Zoo, where they would have passed the viewing area for sealions, an unlikely venue for a confidential discussion.
They leave the park at 62nd St and head east to Madison Avenue, which they walk up back to 71st St. Our previously unpublished photograph shows them at 2.06pm passing designer fashion store Chloe with Andrew seemingly texting on his phone.
11.42am: Susan Hamblin, a long-term confidante, seen leaving
12.07pm: Man wearing dark glasses arrives at Epstein’s home
Around 2.15pm: They arrive home, making their total walk nearly half an hour. By that time, according to Andrew, he had ended their friendship.
Addressing the conversation in the Newsnight interview, Andrew said: ‘We had an opportunity to go for a walk in the park and that was the conversation coincidentally that was photographed which was when I said to him, I said, ‘Look, because of what has happened, I don’t think it is appropriate that we should remain in contact’.
‘And by mutual agreement, during that walk in the park, we decided that we would part company and I left, I think it was the next day.
‘And to this day I never had any contact with him from that day forward.’
Asked by Miss Maitlis how Epstein took it, Andrew said that ‘he was what I would describe as understanding’.
He added: ‘He didn’t go into any great depth in the conversation about what I was . . . what he was doing, except to say that he’d accepted, whatever it was, a plea bargain, he’d served his time and he was carrying on with his life if you see what I mean.
‘And I said, ‘Yes, but I’m afraid to say that that’s as maybe but with all the attendant scrutiny on me then I don’t think it is a wise thing to do’.’
9.45pm: Epstein emerges from the front door with a dark-haired woman who appears to be in her 20s wearing a black jacket and an orange scarf. Epstein, wearing a white winter jacket with a fur trim, hugs and kisses her as they walk along.
Monday, December 6
12.39pm: The first picture of the day shows an older security agent with a dark moustache and slicked-back greying hair leaving.
2.06pm: An unidentified brunette woman leaves in dark glasses. She appears to be in her 20s and wears a black leather jacket, a grey beanie hat and carries a large black shoulder bag.
2.09pm: Another security guard, a younger man with dark hair, enters the home.
Monday, December 6, 12.39pm: Man believed to be security guard leaves the mansion
2.06pm: A brunette woman carrying a large shoulder bag leaves
3.11pm: A second unidentified woman with long dark hair, seemingly in her 20s, leaves. She wears a red woollen hat and a long grey puffer jacket. She also carries a large black shoulder bag.
3.35pm: A blonde woman in her 30s leaves. She wears a white shirt under a dark brown sheepskin coat with fur trim.
3.46pm: The arrival of a tall woman with long dark hair.
At some point in the afternoon Epstein came out of the house in his white winter jacket. His confidante, Miss Hamblin, also came out and spoke to the driver of a waiting Bentley and appeared to ask him for something.
She returned to the front door, rang the bell and, as it opened, Sarah Kellen, a long-time Epstein associate who has been accused of recruiting young girls for him, left with a smile to Miss Hamblin.
2.09pm: A dark-haired man believed to be a security guard arrives at the house
3.11pm: A woman in a red hat carrying a large shoulder bag leaves
4.30pm: This is when the now infamous video of Andrew cheerily waving to Katherine Keating, the daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, was filmed.
The Duke smiles and waves as Miss Keating, dressed in a long black coat with a large black bag over her arm, steps out of the 15ft-high oak doors.
As she goes to hail a taxi, Andrew peers furtively round the door before disappearing inside.
By this point, no fewer than six women and three security officers had been seen arriving or leaving Epstein’s house during Andrew’s stay. All potential witnesses for the FBI case.
Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis challenged Andrew about whether he saw any suspicious activity.
3.35pm: A blonde woman in a fur-trimmed coat leaves
3.46pm: A statuesque woman with long dark hair arrives
‘During that time, those few days, witnesses say they saw many young girls coming and going.
‘There is video footage of Epstein accompanied by young girls and you were there staying in his house, catching up with friends.’
Andrew said: ‘I never… I mean if there were then I wasn’t a party to any of that. I never saw them.
‘I mean you have to understand that his house, I described it more as almost as a railway station if you know what I mean in the sense that there were people coming in and out of that house all the time.
‘What they were doing and why they were there I had nothing to do with. So I’m afraid I can’t make any comment on that because I really don’t know.’
4.30pm: Katherine Keating, the daughter of former Australian PM, departs
Tuesday, December 7
A further young female guest was seen leaving the house in the afternoon.
Her suitcases were loaded into a waiting car and the tag from her incoming flight could still be seen on them.
She apparently came from Russia as the tag said Aeroflot, the Russian national airline, and the date was November 19.
What was apparently intended to be a low-key visit by Prince Andrew to his long-time friend Epstein was blown apart weeks later when the now defunct News of the World printed a picture of them walking together through Central Park.
The circumstances in which the picture was taken, proving beyond any doubt the closeness of their friendship, still puzzles the Duke.
He was asked during the BBC interview about suggestions by his friends that Epstein wanted the photo to be taken and ‘perhaps he’d even set it up’.
Andrew replied: ‘Again, new information coming out since his suicide has made us reappraise that walk in the park.
‘We can’t find any evidence — or my staff and my people and I can’t find any evidence — to suggest that that was what he was doing.
‘I mean you can look at it in so many different ways.
‘The fact of the matter is that somebody very cleverly took that photograph. It wasn’t as far as I remember — nor do my security people remember — anybody being present or close because there were enough security around.’
And so the mysteries surrounding Andrew’s visit to his paedophile friend, and the questions over what he told Newsnight, continue to deepen.