‘No-one above the law’ says Met chief after Duke of York claims

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said “no-one is above the law” when questioned about claims of sexual assault against the Duke of York.

Dame Cressida Dick added that she has asked officers to again review allegations connected to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, having so far decided not to open an investigation.

Appearing on LBC Radio on Thursday morning, Dame Cressida was asked what inquiries have taken place into the allegations from Virginia Giuffre concerning the duke.

The American claims she was trafficked by Epstein, Andrew’s former friend, to have sex with the duke when she was 17 and a minor under US law.

Andrew has vehemently denied the allegations in the past, and a spokesman for the duke said there was “no comment” when asked to respond to Ms Giuffre filing a civil suit for damages in the US.

According to reports, the duke was seen arriving at the royal Scottish retreat of Balmoral Castle on Tuesday evening, and was thought to have been accompanied by his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.

Dame Cressida told LBC: “I’m not going to talk about individuals, but what I can say is that I think what you’re referring to is associated with Jeffrey Epstein, who I will talk about since he is deceased.

“And the position there is that we have had more than one allegation that is connected with Mr Epstein and we have reviewed those, assessed those, and we have not opened an investigation.”

She said the force looked at three things: “Is there evidence of a crime, is this the right jurisdiction for this to be dealt with, and is the person against whom the crime is alleged still alive?”

“We have concluded that there is no investigation for us to open and we haven’t,” she said, adding it was the “right decision” after advice from the Crown Prosecution Service and being reviewed twice.

Dame Cressida added: “I’m aware that currently there is a lot more commentary in the media and an apparent civil court case going on in America and we will, of course, again review our position… but at the moment there is no investigation.”

Asked if the duke is “above the law”, she replied: “No-one is above the law.”

She said the Met is “open to working with authorities from overseas”, adding: “As a result of what’s going on, I’ve asked my team to have another look at the material.”