the times | Monday June 13 2022 V2 19
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GARETH EVERETT/HUW EVANS AGENCYGhislaine Maxwell could
be jailed for up to 55 yearsIN THE TIMES TOMORROW
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MAIN PAPERGhislaine Maxwell is expected to seek a
transfer to a British prison to serve her
sentence for child sex trafficking.
The former socialite faces up to 55
years in jail when she is sentenced in
New York on June 28 after being con-
victed of procuring girls for the Amer-
ican paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell, 60, will have to give up any
chance of appealing against her convic-
tions if she requests a transfer soon. She
will wait up to two years for an appeal
against conviction or sentence to be
concluded. If unsuccessful she would
then decide whether to take the case to
the Supreme Court or seek a transfer.
A friend of Maxwell, who has British,
American and French citizenship, told
The Times: “Of course, Ghislaine is fun-
damentally British despite having lived
in the US for many years and having
been born in France. She was brought
up here and has extensive family here.
Given the vile prison conditions in the
US, if I were her I would want to be
transferred to any civilised country.”
A source told The Mail on Sunday:
“She wants to be in the UK to be closer
to her family so she can have family vis-
its. The prisons in Britain are far
superior to those in the US and
the Brits treat prisoners more
humanely. The American
system is a disgrace. If she has
to spend time in prison she
would rather do it in the UK,
where people are treated
fairly and with a measure
of decency.”
Maxwell, the daugh-
ter of the late media ty-
coon Robert Maxwell,
was convicted in Dec-
ember of five charges
of grooming and pro-
curing under-age girls
for Epstein, a financier
who was found
hanged in his prison
cell aged 66 in 2019.
Her victims include
Virginia Giuffre, who
Maxwell wants to
serve her jail term
in ‘civilised’ UK
reached an out-of-court settlement
with the Duke of York, who denied her
claims that he had sexually abused her.
Maxwell was kept in solitary confine-
ment at the maximum-security Metro-
politan Detention Center in New York
after her arrest in July 2020 because she
was considered a suicide risk. Last
month she was moved into an area with
40 other inmates.
Her brother Ian Maxwell, 66, said at
the weekend that he had been prevent-
ed from visiting his sister because the
prison went into lockdown after a fight.
She has had one family visit since her
arrest.
Maxwell secretly married the Amer-
ican technology millionaire Scott Bor-
gerson, 46, in 2016. He did not attend
her trial and is said to be in a new rela-
tionship. A family source said: “Ghis-
laine remains married. Prior to her
appeal there is no discussion about
where she might eventually serve any
sentence, if one continues to exist.”
The US Department of Justice said
that 36 to 41 per cent of prisoner trans-
fer applications had been approved in
recent years. Many did not happen,
however, because the home country
refuses to accept them or the transfer is
impractical.
In April Judge Alison Nathan, who
presided over Maxwell’s trial, re-
fused to overturn convictions on
three of five charges, including sex
trafficking, saying the jury’s verdict
was supported by witness testimony
and evidence presented at trial.
She overturned guilty ver-
dicts on two charges, potent-
ially leading to a reduction
of the jail sentence, after
finding that the offences
were covered by the other
charges. She dismissed an
application for a retrial after
a juror admitted falsely stat-
ing on a pretrial question-
naire that he had not been
sexually abused.David Brown
Manpower Ricky Lightfoot, right, became the first human since 2007 to win the 22.5-mile Man v Horse race, which has been
run in Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, since 1980. Lightfoot’s time of 2 hours, 22 minutes was 2 minutes ahead of the fastest horseNews
HUW EVANS AGENCYowinthe 22 5-mileManvHorseracewhichhasbeen