Prince Andrew’s former bodyguard has said he ‘can’t remember’ if he accompanied the royal on a now notorious trip to New York where he is alleged to have slept with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts.
The prince is said to have first met Ms Roberts at Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in April 2001.
Royal Protection Officer Jeff Fuller spent 20 years alongside the Duke in the 1990s and 2000s and regularly accompanied him on social engagements.
However, when asked whether he was with the prince during the trip to New York 18 years ago, Mr Fuller asked MailOnline: ‘Do you remember what you were doing in 2001?
Prince Andrew’s former bodyguard Jeff Fuller (pictured right in June 2000) has said he ‘can’t remember’ if he accompanied the royal on a notorious trip to New York where he is alleged to have slept with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts
However, when asked whether he was with the prince during the trip to New York 18 years ago, Mr Fuller asked MailOnline: ‘Do you remember what you were doing in 2001? ‘Do you know how long I served with him? It was a long time. I have no idea if I was there, I can’t remember’
The prince is said to have first met Ms Roberts at Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in April 2001. Mr Fuller spent more than a decade alongside the Duke in the 1990s and 2000s and regularly accompanied him on social engagements
‘Do you know how long I served with him? It was a long time. I have no idea if I was there, I can’t remember and I have no comment to make.’
Mr Fuller, now 65, appears in a number of photographs flanking the prince, including one image which shows Andrew meeting US rock star Courtenay Love in 2000.
He was also snapped in the front seat when the duke escorted a glamorous young friend from a London nightclub earlier the same year.
Ms Roberts has claimed she was trafficked by the late billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and made to have sex with his powerful and influential friends, including Andrew.
Mr Fuller, now 65, appears in a number of photographs flanking the prince, including one image which shows Andrew meeting US rock star Courtenay Love in 2000. He was also snapped with the duke escorting a glamorous friend from a London nightclub that same year
However the royal has always strongly contested the allegations and during his BBC interview last weekend argued he could not have met Ms Roberts at Epstein’s house because he was staying with the British consul-general at the time.
That claim is now under scrutiny after the consul-general in question – respected diplomat Sir Thomas Harris – said he has ‘no recollection’ of Andrew staying with him.
Mr Fuller was equally evasive when asked if he had ever been present during any meeting between Andrew and Epstein.
Ms Roberts (with her husband) claims she was trafficked by billionaire paedophile and made to have sex with his powerful and influential friends, including Andrew
Speaking on the doorstep of his home in South West London, the former detective sergeant in Scotland Yard’s elite Royal Protection Group added: ‘I can’t remember and that’s all I’m going to say, sorry.’
Mr Fuller famously nearly shot the prince when his gun went off by accident at the prince’s Berkshire home in 2003.
He was taken off firearms duty but soon returned to duties after an investigation found he accidentally fired a shot from his gun as he unloaded it.
The prince dived for cover when the bullet passed through an office desk at his former Sunninghill Park home near Ascot becoming embedded in a corridor ten feet from where he was standing.
Mr Fuller is not the only former personal protection officer assigned to Andrew to refuse to divulge any information about the prince’s trip to New York in 2001.
Retired chief inspector John Askew, who was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order during the Queen’s 2014 New Year’s Honours for services to Royal Protection, also remained tight-lipped.
When MailOnline visited his home in leafy Essex, he said: ‘I will not discuss anything to do with my police career.
‘I know what’s in the press but I’m sorry I won’t make any comment. Unfortunately, you won’t get anything from me.’
However the royal has always strongly contested the allegations and during his BBC interview last weekend argued he could not have met Ms Roberts at Epstein’s house because he was staying with the British consul-general at the time. Picture: After his Newsnight interview
Pressed on whether he was refusing to answer because he had signed the official secrets act, he added: ‘Every senior police officer has signed it.’
Andrew flew to New York on April 9, 2001 for a three-day tour of the U.S which finished in Boston on April 11 on behalf of the Outward Bound Trust, of which he was patron before resigning this week.
During his ‘car crash’ Newsnight interview, Andrew told the BBC’s Emily Maitless: ‘I think the date we have for that shows that I was in Boston or I was in New York the previous day, and I was at a dinner for the Outward Bound Trust in New York and then I flew up to Boston the following day.
‘Because of what I was doing, I was staying with the consul-general, which is further down the street (from Epstein’s home).
‘So I wasn’t staying there (at Epstein’s home). I may have visited but no, definitely didn’t, definitely, definitely, no, no, no activity.’
Sir Thomas Harris, who served as the consul-general in New York from 1999 to 2004, said that overnight stays by royals at a consul-general’s residence tended to be formally registered in the Court Circular.
Sir Thomas said: ‘I have no recollection of him staying at the address in April. I don’t have a note of the dates of all the visits – the Palace will. It doesn’t ring any bell whatsoever’
No such stays were logged in the Court Circular for the dates of April 9-11 2001, when Andrew was carrying out those formal engagements.
Sir Thomas said: ‘I have no recollection of him staying at the address in April. I don’t have a note of the dates of all the visits – the Palace will. It doesn’t ring any bell whatsoever.’
Flight records show that Ms Roberts also flew to New York on April 9.
She travelled with Epstein from his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, aboard his 22-seat Gulfstream to New York via Atlantic City.