Essex Police are reviewing information concerning private flights linked to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein that used Stansted airport. The assessment follows the release of US Department of Justice files detailing Epstein's activities.
Nearly 90 flights connected to Epstein arrived at or departed from UK airports between the early 1990s and 2018, according to a BBC investigation in December. Some British women on board have alleged they were abused by Epstein.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has called for a re-examination of claims that women or girls were trafficked to the UK on Epstein's jet, the so-called Lolita Express. Writing in the New Statesman, Brown noted that the jet made 15 flights to or from UK airports after Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child.
Brown said: “The emails tell us in graphic detail how Epstein was able to use Stansted airport – he boasted how cheap the airport charges were compared to Paris – to fly in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia. Stansted was also where women were transferred from one Epstein plane to another; women arriving on private planes into Britain would not need British visas.”
A Stansted airport spokesperson stated that all private aircraft operate through independent Fixed Base Operators, and that immigration and customs checks for passengers on private aircraft are carried out by Border Force. The airport said it does not manage or have visibility of passenger arrangements on privately operated aircraft.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council has set up a group to support UK police forces assessing allegations from the Epstein files. Separately, Thames Valley Police are reviewing new claims that Epstein sent a woman to the UK to have a sexual encounter with Prince Andrew in 2010. Andrew has denied any wrongdoing regarding his links with Epstein.
