UK police force assessing Stansted Airport private flights over Epstein ties

41 minutes agoRachel Muller-HeyndykUS Department of Justice/PAEpstein took dozens more flights to the UK than were previously knownEssex Police has said it is assessing information about private flights into and out of Stansted Airport following the publication of the Epstein files.Ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in the New Statesman last week that police "urgently" need to re-examine whether Jeffrey Epstein's victims were trafficked within and outside of the UK.Last year a BBC investigation found 87 flights linked to the convicted sex offender had arrived at or departed from UK airports between the early 1990s and 2018.Stansted Airport has previously said all private aircraft are operated entirely independently, and that the airport does not manage passenger arrangements on privately operated aircraft.An Essex Police spokesperson said: "We are assessing the information that has emerged in relation to private flights into and out of Stansted Airport following the publication of the US DoJ Epstein files."In December, BBC News discovered that three British women who were allegedly trafficked appear in Epstein's records of flights in and out of the UK alongside other documents related to the convicted sex offender.US lawyers representing hundreds of Epstein victims told the BBC it was "shocking" that there has never been a "full-scale" investigation into his activities in the UK.Brown said the scale of trafficking would "become apparent" if an investigation had been conducted into the flights.He added that Stansted Airport was one of the airports "where women were transferred from one Epstein plane to another".Stansted Airport said all private aircraft use entirely independent terminals not operated by Stansted, and the airport does not manage or have any visibility of passenger arrangements on privately operated aircraft.A new national group has been set up to support UK police forces that are "assessing allegations" following the publication of the Epstein files, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has said.Thames Valley Police is assessing allegations, reported by the BBC, that a second woman was sent to the UK by Jeffrey Epstein for a sexual encounter with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.It previously said they have held discussions with specialists from the Crown Prosecution Service about the allegations that Andrew shared confidential reports with Epstein during his time as the UK's trade envoy.The former prince has always denied any wrongdoing.Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Police launched a criminal investigation into Lord Mandelson following claims he passed market-sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein.Lord Mandelson has previously expressed regret for his continued association with Epstein and apologised "to the women and the girls who suffered".