Around the world, the public is demanding that those connected to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein face consequences – so far, the UK is among only a handful of countries to have answered that call, with law enforcement announcing investigations into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, and Peter Mandelson over claims they passed confidential information to Epstein. While this is, of course, laudable, let’s not forget that any impending punishments are still too little, too late.
In a news cycle flurry on Tuesday, 3 February, former business secretary and now former House of Lords member Peter Mandelson faced a number of cascading consequences for his close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. As documents released by the US Department of Justice appeared to show Mandelson leaking government information to Epstein, taking money from Epstein and acting on lobbying advice from Epstein, a public furore grew.
Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party on Sunday and, under further pressure after the prime minister announced he had referred the case to the Metropolitan Police, Mandelson resigned from the House of Lords on Tuesday afternoon. By Tuesday evening, the Met confirmed it is proceeding with an investigation into Mandelson’s alleged leaks.
Lawyers for Mandelson have said he “regrets, and will regret until his dying day, that he believed Epstein’s lies about his criminality.
“Lord Mandelson did not discover the truth about Epstein until after his death in 2019,” said a spokesperson for the law firm Mishcon de Reya, which represents Mandelson (via Al Jazeera). “He is profoundly sorry that powerless and vulnerable women and girls were not given the protection they deserved.”
Also on Tuesday, police in Thames Valley – in whose jurisdiction the Royal Lodge falls – announced they will review new evidence of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. The former Duke of York denies any wrongdoing.
“We are aware of reports about a woman said to have been taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes,” a spokesperson said. “We are assessing the information in line with our established procedures.”
The former prince has been arrested on his 66th birthday.
While Thames Valley’s announcement is one step behind the Mandelson story – it has not formally announced that an investigation has begun – both developments are significant because they signal UK authorities taking action against two of the powerful men associated with Epstein who are in British jurisdictions.
With dozens of men named in new documents linked to Epstein all over the world and a resounding silence from authorities in other countries – most importantly, of course, the US – in terms of any further investigation into any of these men, these developments in the UK are significant. But their comparative significance also only highlights just how badly the Epstein victims have been treated, and continue to be treated.
These two potential criminal investigations are minor chinks in the armour of the public impunity enjoyed by all of the alleged perpetrators linked to Epstein. The late survivor Virginia Giuffre came forward with detailed allegations of being raped by Mountbatten-Windsor in a British jurisdiction in 2014. From that point onwards, law enforcement covering the townhouse in which the alleged rape took place could and should have fully investigated that allegation. They declined to do so.
In a statement, Met commander Ella Marriott said, "Officers assessed all available evidence at the time, interviewed the complainant, Ms Virginia Giuffre, as well as contacting several other potential victims. This did not result in any allegation of criminal conduct against any UK-based nationals." Mountbatten-Windsor has always strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Similarly, Mandelson’s close links to Epstein – including a photo appearing to show Mandelson with Epstein on his Caribbean island – have been widely known for many years. Keir Starmer could have acted on them at any point since he came to power, but he declined to do so.
Lucia Osborne-Crowley reported on Ghislaine Maxwell's trial for helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse women and girls. Her new book unapologetically focuses on the survivors.
In the time that has elapsed since, victims have continued to be retraumatised by law enforcement’s unwillingness to take their allegations or any allegations of other wrongdoing by Epstein's associates seriously. In that time, victims have had to deal with the consequences of being disbelieved, ignored, and treated as disposable. In that time, Mountbatten-Windsor’s alleged victim, Virginia Giuffre, has paid the ultimate price. She died by suicide in 2025 at age 41 after a life defined by a horrific struggle with abuse and trauma.
And this, of course, is the most devastating illustration of our collective and profound failure to fight for the victims of this sex trafficking ring: Giuffre’s death is the embodiment of one of the first things you learn in law school: that justice delayed is justice denied. The failures of those in power to take this seriously decades ago can never truly be remedied, because many of the victims will not be alive to see it.
What we know about the trauma that flows from this type of abuse is that it affects a person both physiologically and psychologically in a lasting, often permanent, way. What we also know is that those impacts are compounded by time – the old edict “time heals all wounds” does not apply to trauma; the opposite is true. The longer it remains unresolved – either through medical attention, justice or otherwise – the more debilitating it becomes. I know Epstein survivors who, decades after their abuse, battle every day with long-term physical disabilities as well as the emotional impacts of trauma. For every single one of those victims, each day that has passed without a true reckoning has caused them further harm.
That’s what I want us to finally understand now, as we meet this current moment: just how high the stakes are. The stakes are no lower than life or death. It is too late to remedy the damage that has already been done to victims by delaying justice for this long, but we can prevent that damage from metastasising even further. We can stop the harm from compounding more if we ensure that we do not look away from the Epstein files in this political moment.
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The alleged crimes involved in the Epstein story are not ones that should be dealt with by merely stripping a person of their public honours and hoping that will wash our collective hands of this horror. They are among what we hold to be, or at least pretend we hold to be, among the most serious possible crimes. We are talking about human trafficking, rape and child abuse. Everyone who may have participated in these crimes or may have known about them must be held accountable.
These victims have been failed at every possible turn. We can’t let it happen again. If the morsels of recrimination happening here in the UK tell us anything, it’s that we here have to work harder than ever to keep covering this story relentlessly, in the hopes that doing so will ensure those morsels grow and potentially encourage other countries’ authorities to step up.
For more information about reporting and recovering from rape and sexual abuse, you can contact Rape Crisis on 0808 500 2222.
If you have been sexually assaulted, you can find your nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre here. You can also find support at your local GP, voluntary organisations such as Rape Crisis, Women's Aid, and Victim Support, and you can report it to the police (if you choose) here.
The resources and helplines you need to know.
