Section:GDN 1N PaGe:17 Edition Date:190907 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 6/9/2019 18:25 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Saturday 7 September 2019 The Guardian •
National^17
Gender clinic breach reveals
email addresses of patients
Epstein accuser denies
Andrew photo is a fake
Denis Campbell
Health policy editor
Almost 2,000 patients of an NHS
gender identity clinic have had their
email addresses disclosed in a “horren-
dous” breach of patient confi dentiality.
Those involved are patients of the
Jon Swaine
A woman who accused the fi nan-
cier Jeff rey Epstein of forcing her to
have sex with his powerful friends
has denied a claim by allies of Prince
Andrew that a notorious photograph
of them together was faked.
Virginia Roberts Giuff re’s attorneys
rejected the claim as a “troubling
assertion” and reiterated a request to
interview Andrew about Epstein, who
killed himself last month while await-
ing trial on sex traffi cking charges.
The photograph shows Andrew
with an arm around the waist of
Roberts Giuff re , then called Virginia
Roberts, when she was about 17. It is
said to have been taken by Epstein at
the home of his friend Ghislaine Max-
well during a visit to London in 2001.
The image has dogged Andrew since
it was fi rst published in 2011 by the Mail
on Sunday, which paid Roberts Giuff re
for the photograph and detailed her
account of encountering Andrew
while serving as a travelling“sex slave”
to his friend Epstein.
Last week, unidentifi ed “sources
close to” Andrew were quoted raising
doubts over the photograph’s authen-
ticity by the Daily Telegraph and
the Evening Standard. They argued
Andrew’s fi ngers were “chubbier” than
they appeared in the picture and that
he was taller than depicted.
But one of Roberts Giuffre’s
attorneys, Brad Edwards, told the
Guardian the photograph was authen-
tic and had not been altered. Edwards
shared a letter addressing the claims
that he and David Boies, another of
Roberts Giuff re’s attorneys, had sent
it could have an impact on people’s
lives,” said Shon Faye, who was among
those aff ected. “It could lead to peo-
ple being outed to family members or
to their communities as being trans,
where it may be a risk to them being
known to be trans. That could be
hugely dangerous to their wellbeing
and safety,” she told the Guardian.
The trust said that just under 2,
patients’ email addresses had been
released to all recipients by mistake.
It has classifi ed the leak as a “serious
incident” – one that involves risk to
patients and will be the subject of anAndrew this week following his earlier
remarks expressing sympathy for
Epstein’s victims.
“While your recent press statements
indicate your sincere desire to help
the victims of sexual abuse, we are
concerned that certain statements
attributed to you (which we hope
do not refl ect your actual views) are
quite inconsistent with a desire to
deal responsibly with the serious
allegations that have been made,”
Edwards wrote. “We now see, for
instance, a troubling assertion attrib-
uted to you that a well-documented
photograph depicting you, Virginia
Roberts Giuff re and Ghislaine Maxwell
in each other’s company is a ‘fake’.”
Edwards reminded Andrew that he
had been asked by lawyers “to discuss
the circumstances surrounding this
long-held photograph” several years
ago during civil legal actions brought
against Epstein : “We were puzzled
and, we must admit, disappointed
that you did not cooperate at that
time. Nevertheless, given your new
attention to the subject and your
pledge to cooperate, we renew our
request for your cooperation.”
Roberts Giuff re alleged in a Decem-
ber 2014 court fi ling that she was made
to have sex with Andrew and other
friends of Epstein. Andrew has always
vehemently denied the allegation.
In 2015, a judge ordered the allega-
tions made by Roberts Giuff re about
the prince to be struck out of a claim
against Epstein.
In a statement last month, Andrew
accepted it was “a mistake and an
error” to have continued seeing
Epstein after he pleaded guilty to
soliciting prostitution from an under-
age girl.investigation – and also reported it to
the information commissioner.
“We are currently investigating a
data security incident,” a trust spokes-
person said. “This incident involved
an email from our patient and public
involvement team regarding an art
project ... due to an error, the email
addresses of some of those we are
inviting to participate were not hidden
and therefore visible to all.
“We can confi rm we are reporting
this breach to the Information Com-
missioner’s Offi ce as well as treating it
as a serious incident within the trust.”The offi cial sent the email at 2.23pm.
He apparently immediately realised
his mistake and a minute later sent a
second email – with recipients’ email
addresses hidden – to recall the fi rst.
Those aff ected are all adult patients
at the gender identity clinic, which is
based in Fulham, south-west London.
On social media one person wrote:
“ They literally just outed thousands
of trans patients.” Another said: “If I
were the gender identity clinic I would
not leak the details of thousands of
trans people receiving treatment in
this extremely hostile climate.”▲ Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts and Ghislaine Maxwell in the 2001 image
Tavistock and Portman mental health
trust in London who are transitioning
gender or considering doing so.
Their email addresses were left
visible in an email from an offi cial at
the trust yesterday. The email should
have been sent on a blind copy basis.
“This is a horrendous breach of
privacy. It’s very alarming becauseREX/SHUTTERSTOCKRELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws