Epstein victims want former Prince Andrew to testify before lawmakers. He’s unlikely to do so

LONDON (AP) — Former Prince Andrew saw his reputation destroyed six years ago and became the butt of internet jokes when he gave a disastrous interview to the BBC about his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

He’s unlikely to take that risk again even as Prime Minister Keir Starmer, U.S. Congress members and lawyers representing Epstein’s victims call for him to tell investigators what he knows about Epstein and his network of rich and powerful friends.

“If you view the Newsnight evidence as a precedent, then who knows what Andrew would say or how he would come across in what would be some very, very hostile questioning — far (more) hostile than he faced from Emily Maitlis,’’ Craig Prescott, an expert on constitutional law and the monarchy at Royal Holloway, University of London, said, referring to the 2019 BBC interview. “It’s very difficult to see how that is, in a sense, in the interests of Andrew to do that voluntarily.”

The pressure for Andrew to testify is growing after the latest release of documents from the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into Epstein revealed further unsavory details about links between the two men. Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents many of Epstein’s victims, said on Monday that Andrew has a duty to provide any evidence that could help investigators understand how Epstein was able to abuse so many women for so long, and who else might have been involved in his crimes.

But the last time Andrew tried to answer questions about his friendship with Epstein it ended in disaster.

After the 2019 interview with Maitlis, Andrew was pilloried for offering unbelievable explanations for his continued contact with Epstein following the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, and for failing to show empathy for the victims.

Last fall, King Charles III stripped Andrew of his royal titles, including the right to be called a prince, as he tried to insulate the monarchy from the continuing revelations about his younger brother’s relationship with Epstein, which have tarnished the royal family for more than a decade. The former prince is now known simply as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Andrew has also been ordered to vacate Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion near Windsor Castle that has been his home for more than a decade.

Mountbatten-Windsor has little to lose by ignoring calls for him to testify, and U.S. authorities will find it hard to compel him to appear before Congress, said lawyer Mark Stephens, who handles international and complex cases at Howard Kennedy in London.

“There will be huge pressure and calls for him to (testify), but I don’t think that even if he gets there, even if he gives evidence, it’s going to reveal anything meaningful,” Stephens said. “I would fully expect him to take the fifth, as Americans say, the privilege against self-incrimination. And so I don’t think, beyond his name, he’s going answer any of the questions either by turning up or not turning up.”

Documents released on Friday suggest that Epstein sought to arrange a date between Mountbatten-Windsor and a “beautiful’’ 26-year-old Russian woman, and that the former prince offered Epstein dinner at Buckingham Palace. They also revealed emails sent by Sarah Ferguson, Mountbatten-Windsor’s ex-wife, in which she called Epstein a “legend’’ and “the brother I have always wished for.’’

Documents do not show wrongdoing by many of those named; their appearance in the files reflects Epstein’s extremely wide reach.

Mountbatten-Windsor has previously demonstrated caution about talking to U.S. authorities.

After he stepped away from royal duties in 2019, Mountbatten-Windsor announced that he was willing to help “any appropriate law enforcement agency” with its investigation into Epstein.

But documents released last year showed how 10 months of negotiations between Mountbatten-Windsor’s lawyers and federal prosecutors failed to secure his testimony.

Attorneys for the king’s brother ultimately rejected proposals for their client to be directly interviewed by the prosecutors, either in person or by video. Instead, they proposed that he give his answers in writing, something they said was perfectly acceptable in British courts.

Finally, on Sept. 23, 2020, the prosecutors gave up on the idea of securing a voluntary interview and said they planned to start the formal process of asking the British courts to compel Andrew’s testimony under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the two countries. There is no indication that interview ever took place.

Allred said the testimony is important for Epstein’s victims.

While Mountbatten-Windsor has said he doesn’t know anything about Epstein’s crimes, the documents released by the Justice Department show that he has at least some understanding of the parties Epstein hosted, and how he used young women to influence his network of wealthy, powerful friends, Allred told the BBC.

“He’s not the one who should decide whether he knows anything that could help in the investigation,” she said. “I am saying it’s not too late, and he does have information that he can share that may help them.”

FILE - Prince Andrew arrives for the funeral of the Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral in London, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (Jordan Pettitt/Pool Photo via AP, file)

Police in Hawaii were searching Thursday for a 36-year-old man whom they described as “armed and extremely dangerous” and wanted in connection with three killings within a two-day span earlier this week.

Hawaii Police Chief Reed Mahuna said authorities were deploying “significant resources and personnel” in trying to find Jacob Baker, of Pahoa, Hawaii.

Three men, including two who were 69 years old and one who was 79, were found dead on Monday and Tuesday in the Puna area of the island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island. The island is the largest in the Hawaiian chain at more than 4,000 square miles (10,360 square kilometers).

“These are a tragic series of events and our thoughts are with those who are grieving at this time,” Mahuna said at a news conference Wednesday. “The Hawaii Police Department understands the fear and concerns incidents like this bring to our community.”

Mahuna declined to provide details on the search, but said bringing Baker into custody was his department's “No. 1 priority.”

Authorities said they had not identified a motive but were confident Baker was involved in all three homicides. Mahuna did not release information on how police identified Baker as a suspect or what evidence may connect him to the killings.

On Monday at around 8 p.m., police found a 69-year-old man at a residence partially submerged in a cement pond, Mahuna said. Police did not initially know whether foul play was involved, but preliminary autopsy results showed the death was a homicide, the chief said.

On Tuesday, a 79-year-old man was found dead with apparent blunt force injuries shortly after 12:30 p.m., Mahuna said. The killing happened about 400 to 500 feet (122 to 152 meters) from the first homicide, he said.

Later Tuesday, at around 10 p.m., police responded to a property about 19 miles (31 kilometers) from the other two killings on a welfare check request and found a 69-year-old man dead with injuries, Mahuna said.

Police said there were no known connections among the victims, other than the first two men lived near each other. Mahuna said guns were not used in the killings.

Mahuna said Baker is known to police, but did not elaborate.

Two women filed petitions for temporary restraining orders against Baker just last week, related to what they said were threats and harassment happening at a farm they were staying on or co-owned. A judge ultimately denied both applications, saying there was not enough proof of harassment provided.

One of the women claimed in her petition that Baker had threatened to kill several women who were staying on the property, and had caused a number of them to move or end their stays. She included a link to a video that allegedly captured at least one threat, but the link had either been removed or was incorrect as of Thursday.

The other woman alleged in her petition that Baker had threatened women and a disabled man, and said he would trespass on the property, take things that didn’t belong to him and say his intention was to squat on the property.

No attorney was listed for Baker, who had 20 other cases in the court record in the past two decades, many of them traffic infractions. There were also a handful of criminal or administrative citations including letting a dog wander, failure to appear in court and simple trespassing.

In most of those cases, Baker represented himself.

Puna, on the eastern side of the island, is a rural but fast-growing area known for affordable housing prices. It's also an area where lava flows have wiped out entire communities over the years. The landscape is lush and tropical mixed with barren lava fields.

Officials were asking the public to report any information about Baker and any suspicious activities in the areas of the homicides to police, and urged people not to approach Baker.

Associated Press writer Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu contributed to this report.

FILE - A sign welcomes people to Pahoa, Hawaii, on May 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File)

This undated photo provided by the Hawaiʻi Police Department on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, shows Jacob Baker. (Hawaiʻi Police Department via AP)