Daily Mail - 17.08.2019

Daily Mail, Saturday, August 17, 2019 Page 

Not for sale: Trump mocked for

asking if US can buy Greenland

Mail Foreign Service

More downpours... but it will

clear up for the Bank Holiday

GREENLAND has insisted it is not for sale

following reports Donald Trump had pri-

vately discussed whether the US could

buy the world’s biggest island.

It has been claimed the US President had

asked White House staff to investigate a

possible purchase – a suggestion laughed

off as a joke by some advisers but appar-

ently taken more seriously by others.

Mr Trump is due to visit Copenhagen in

September and the Arctic will be on the

agenda during meetings with the prime

ministers of Denmark and Greenland – an

autonomous Danish territory with a pop-

ulation of more than 50,000. Greenland’s

foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger politely

responded yesterday: ‘We are open for

business, but we’re not for sale.’

But other Danish politicians poured

scorn on the idea. ‘It has to be an April

Fool’s joke. Totally out of season,’ said

former prime minister Lars Lokke Ras-

mussen. Soren Espersen, of the Danish

People’s Party, added: ‘If he is truly con-

templating this, then this is final proof

that he has gone mad.’

DOWNPOURS swept Britain again By Liz Hull

yesterday – and it looks set to be a

soggy weekend, too.

There were flood warnings in place in

Derbyshire, Snowdonia and the Lake Dis-

trict, while St David’s in Pembrokeshire

recorded an inch of rain in 12 hours.

Forecasters say a mix of sunshine and

showers will spread across England

and Wales this weekend – but conditions

should settle next week bringing warmer,

drier weather by Wednesday.

Martin Bowles, from the Met Office, said:

‘It’s looking quite positive for the Bank

Holiday weekend. Temperatures will be

warm, we’re looking at around 24C (75F)

towards the end of the week.’ He added

that there would be ‘nice, pleasant weather

before the end of the summer holidays.’

This month has been a washout so far,

with bookmaker Coral yesterday suspend-

ing betting on it being the wettest August

since records began.

Heavy rain forced pop star Liam Payne

to cancel an outdoor charity concert in

London last night, while play was also

cut short at the second Ashes test at

Lord’s yesterday afternoon.

PAGES 28-

PAEDOPHILE NEXT DOOR

Fast food: Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell sits outside the In-N-Out Burger bar in LA, in the first photo of her for three years

...AS EPSTEIN ‘FIXER’ FINALLY SHOWS UP – AT A BURGER BAR

‘immaterial and impertinent’.

Channel 4 News said the Met

refused to answer detailed ques-

tions about the allegations and

whether they ever spoke to

Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell,

Prince Andrew or anyone from the

Royal Household.

Last night lawyers for Mrs Giuf-

fre said they hoped the Met would

resume their inquiries and hold

accountable those responsible.

‘Virginia Giuffre has been and

remains hopeful that, given all the

factual evidence that is now in the

public domain, the London

authorities will view the abuse she

suffered while in London as a seri-

ous investigative matter and they

would be prepared to prosecute

and hold those responsible

accountable – regardless of status

or power,’ the lawyers said.

Peter Saunders, of British char-

ity the National Association for

People Abused in Childhood, said

he approached the Met in 2015

because paperwork published in

the US relating to Epstein gave

him ‘cause for concern’.

Mr Saunders said: ‘I was con-

cerned there were British victims

here. I passed the information on

to police at New Scotland Yard.’

A Scotland Yard spokesman said:

‘[We] can confirm that the Metro-

politan Police Service received an

allegation of non-recent traffick-

ing for sexual exploitation. The

MPS reviewed the available evi-

dence and the decision was made

that this would not progress to a

full investigation.

‘As such, the matter was closed.’

A spokesman for Buckingham

Palace said: ‘This relates to pro-

ceedings in the United States, to

which The Duke of York is not a

party. Any suggestion of impropri-

ety with underage minors is cate-

gorically untrue.

‘It is emphatically denied that

The Duke of York had any form of

sexual contact or relationship

with Virginia Roberts. Any claim

to the contrary is false and with-

out foundation.’

Meanwhile, Epstein’s alleged

‘madam’ has been pictured in

public for the first time since 2016

• posing outside a fast food res-
  taurant near Los Angeles.
  Ghislaine Maxwell, 57 – known
  for her extravagant lifestyle – was
  enjoying a burger and soft drinks

with her dog, reading a book about

spies. The eaterie appeared to be

an unusual choice for the health-

conscious British socialite.

Since Epstein’s alleged suicide

in his prison cell last weekend,

Robert Maxwell’s daughter has

become a key figure in the sex

trafficking probe.

Although the photo at the In-N-

Out Burger bar was reportedly

taken on Monday, it was published

by The New York Post on Thurs-

day, hours after reports claimed

she was hiding out near Boston.

The timing prompted specula-

tion that Miss Maxwell could be

attempting to throw media and

the FBI off the scent.

Roberts. Miss Maxwell is in the back-

ground of the same photo.

In a court application filed in 2014, Miss

Roberts – now named Mrs Giuffre and a

mother-of-three living in Australia –

alleged she was ‘forced to have sex’ with

Andrew in London and two other loca-

tions in 2001, when she was under 18.

A judge later threw out the allegations

against the Duke of York and ordered

them to be struck from the record as

By Emily Kent Smith

and Katherine Rushton

Photo: Prince Andrew with arm

around Virginia Roberts in 2001

‘Concerned there

were British victims’

SCOTLAND Yard was asked to

launch a probe into claims that

a girl was trafficked to the UK

for sex by Jeffrey Epstein, it

emerged last night.

The Met reviewed the ‘available

evidence’ concerning claims in US

court papers that Virginia Roberts

was ‘forced to have sex’ with Prince

Andrew when she was 17-years-old.

But the force decided the matter

‘would not progress to a full investiga-

tion’, Channel 4 News revealed.

Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied

that he had any form of sexual contact

with Miss Roberts. There is no sugges-

tion that Prince Andrew was aware of

Epstein’s alleged activities.

A photograph from early 2001, believed

to have been taken in a house in Belgra-

via belonging to Epstein’s friend Ghis-

laine Maxwell, shows Andrew with his

arm around the bare midriff of Miss

Revealed: Met was

asked to probe sex

trafficking claim by

girl in Andrew photo