PALS of the Sarah Ferguson have demanded the BBC put Virginia Roberts – a “sex slave” of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – “on the rack”.
The Duchess of York has urged the broadcaster to “drill” Ms Roberts and subject her to the same level of scrutiny as her ex-husband in his car-crash BBC Newsnight interview.
Ms Roberts has accused Andrew of having sex with her on three occasions when she was aged 17 in 2001 and being trafficked by his paedo pal Epstein.
In the controversial Newsnight interview, the Duke claimed he had taken his daughter Princess Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking on a night he’s accused of sleeping with Ms Roberts.
The 35-year-old is being interviewed for Panorama, which is being broadcast on Monday.
Friends of the Duchess of York, 60, told the Daily Telegraph: “She [Virginia Roberts] should be properly cross examined on all the evidence that doesn’t stack up. She should be put on the rack.
“The BBC cannot drill him as they did and just believe her when there are lots of inconsistencies.”
The friend of the Duchess said the BBC should also ask Epstein’s accuser how much money she has got for a photo showing Andrew with his arm draped around her at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell.
The friend said they thought the photograph had been sold for almost 150,000.
Ms Roberts is understood to have given the original photograph to the FBI and is cooperating with its inquiry into Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.
Virginia Roberts holds a photo of herself taken a year after she claims she was first abused by Jeffrey Epstein
She claimed in a 2015 civil lawsuit she had sex with Andrew twice when she was 17 and during an orgy aged 18.
Her claims were rolled into a larger lawsuit which ruled “the factual details are immaterial”.
Ms Roberts was paid an undisclosed sum when the case was settled out of court in 2017.
Buckingham Palace has said the allegations are “false and without any foundation”, adding: “Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors” by the Duke was “categorically untrue”.
Andrew was sacked by the Queen was stripped of his royal duties and 249,000 sovereign grant after stepping down from royal duties on Wednesday.
It came after Andrew told Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis he did not regret his friendship with the Epstein but that the fallout has damaged his mental health.
He admitted that he was being “too honourable” by staying with his paedo pal in the US and insisted it was simply “convenient” for him.
The Duke failed to express any sympathy for the victims of Epstein, who was found hanged in jail in August while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Andrew announced he was standing back from all of the organisations of which he is a patron as the fallout from the disastrous interview continues.
Meanwhile Scotland Yard is under pressure to explain why it failed to carry out a full investigation into allegations Ms Roberts had been trafficked to the UK to have sex with the Duke.
The Duke defended his friendship with Epstein in the Newsnight interview
Andrew initially seemed unaware of the backlash the BBC interview had caused
