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Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse believe British police are failing them, a former top prosecutor has said.
Nazir Afzal, who prosecuted grooming gangs in northern England, said there has been quick action when state interests are involved while allegations of harm to women have been ignored.
Both the former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson have been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office for allegedly handing Epstein sensitive information gathered as part of their official roles.
Both deny any wrongdoing.
Afzal, former chief crown prosecutor for north west England, said meanwhile claims of serious harm to women have seen little action.
Six forces are examining flights coming into the UK allegedly at the behest of Epstein carrying trafficked women. Two other forces are examining claims of sexual assault.
No allegations linked to harm against women have been judged by any force to merit a full criminal investigation.
Afzal told the Guardian: “When the state is the victim, the state moves at pace. When women are alleged victims the state barely moves at all.
“The view of the victims is that their suffering is not being treated by British police with the same urgency as the alleged offences against the interests of the state.”
Afzal said one woman had contacted him and alleges she was sent to the UK by Epstein and then attacked here. He said: “They feel they have been ignored for years.”
“The hard stuff, that is the allegations of sexual assault and trafficking, nobody seems to be dealing effectively with that,” he added.
Britain’s former head of counter-terrorism, Neil Basu, told the Guardian: “It is still too little, too late for the survivors.
“Police will need to be quick, professional and diligent to give any sense of justice to the survivors.
“It is pretty disgraceful that the UK and US authorities have for many years not taken a rigorous look at all of this.
“There is no doubt that Virginia Giuffre was trafficked, coerced and groomed by very powerful people.”
British police say they need the original unredacted documents held about Epstein by the US Department of Justice.
Afzal said a single force or investigation team such as the National Crime Agencyshould take over. “The NCA can be the custodian of the operation, but the local forces do the work,” he said. “The US Department of Justice needs a single figure they can talk to.”
Police chiefs have set up a coordinating committee that has met twice, and is hosted by the National Police Chiefs’ Council. They are also recruiting a high-grade detective to help with the coordination, with chiefs expecting “a tsunami” of allegations about Epstein’s links to Britain as more documents are examined with reportedly 2m more held in the US to be published.
Afzal added: “They need a single national investigator, or team of investigators to see if the sexual offences and trafficking can be proven.
“The sexual assault and trafficking allegations are the hardest matters to investigate, but has caused the most profound damage.
“Confidence will ebb if there are seen to be mistakes in handling the Epstein allegations.”
Basu said UK police needed the original, unredacted documents, and that prosecutions could not be based on print outs from the internet of redacted documents published so far from the US.
He said usually the DoJ will help, but it could take time.
Basu, who was an assistant commissioner in the Met, added:“Historical allegations are incredibly difficult to prove.”
Penny East, the chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “The criminality exposed by the Epstein files goes far beyond misconduct. Accountability is not losing a title, a gold-plated pension or a fancy job - true accountability for the abused women and girls must be a robust response from our criminal justice system.”
Natalie Fleet, the Labour MP for Bolsover and a victim of grooming, said: “This is my fear; that victims’ voices and cases get lost in noise and drama. We are only here because brave women spoke out and we can’t ever forget that. We can see that police are rightly taking action at the highest levels; victims need to feel they’re being listened to and supported as well.”
The six forces considering claims about the Epstein flights into airports in their area are Norfolk, Essex, Bedfordshire, West Midlands, the Met and Police Scotland. Surrey and Thames Valley police forces are considering claims of sexual wrongdoing by the former prince. The allegations that have moved to full criminal investigation are those of misconduct in public office into Mountbatten-Windsor and Mandelson. Both were arrested and released while investigations continued.
Police investigating Mountbatten-Windsor said on Tuesday evening that searches at a property in Berkshire related to an investigation into the offence of misconduct in public office had concluded.
A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesperson said: “No single crime takes priority over another. All investigations are driven by evidence, and while agencies are actively coordinating, these processes take time to ensure they are thorough and robust.”
