Share
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has launched a probe into whether RAF bases were used by sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Records and emails will be reviewed after defence secretary John Healey ordered officials to leave no stone unturned to establish whether the late paedophile landed his private jet, dubbed the 'Lolita Express', at military sites when visiting the UK.
Reports in The Times on Thursday alleged that Epstein's notorious jet had used sites including RAF Northolt, a historic part of Britain's defence from Nazi air raids, to traffic young women to and through the UK.
An MoD spokesperson told LBC: “The Defence Secretary has ordered a review of all records that the department may hold relating to Epstein flights landing at RAF bases to ensure that any information which relates to Epstein’s crimes is uncovered and provided to the relevant authorities.
“The MOD will support any civilian police investigations.
“Our thoughts are with all the victims of Epstein’s vile crimes.”
Documents released as part of three million so-called "Epstein Files" show the paedophile financier organised flights for young women in and out of Britain on dozens of occasions, according to The Times.
Booking records, fuel receipts and flight logs show Epstein's arrivals and departures from the UK before he died in a Manhattan jail in 2019.
The files also showed that the sex trafficker had booked commercial flights for young women from or through the UK until June 2019, a month before he was arrested.
The revelations come as six UK police forces investigate allegations of trafficking using Epstein's jet, dubbed the "Lolita Express."
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown previously called for British authorities to "urgently" look into claims that the sex offender used his jet to traffic women to the UK.
The Labour grandee told The New Statesman the tranche of three million files released by the US Department of Justice showed the jet made 90 flights to or from UK airports – including 15 after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child.
The Times's review of the files also found that Epstein's staff had arranged flights from Heathrow to New York for a Russian woman just a month before his final arrest.
The woman, whose name was redacted in the DOJ's releases, flew out from Heathrow on June 1 and returned on June 9, 2019.
The files appear to show Epstein’s assistant Lesley Groff asking an American Express concierge and account manager to add an unbooked hotel record to an itinerary for the woman's trip.
The concierge replied that it may be too late to book and cancel a hotel – to which Groff asked: “Can you just type up a hotel in an itinerary?”
Following the request, the concierge found a hotel with same-day cancellations, to which Groff replied: “Just add it to itinerary. I will cancel tomorrow morning.”
The files also show that in 2016, Groff asked the same concierge to book a “decoy flight” for a woman travelling to Miami.
Groff wrote: “No return for this flight … This is a decoy flight … she will not really take it … but she needs to show an itinerary for this flight … can you put something together for me.”
A flight from Rome to London City airport was proposed, to which Groff replied: “Let me find out if the fake ticket can show London City.”
Groff’s lawyers have previously said their client had “never witnessed anything improper or illegal”.
The paedophile was also found to have communicated with aviation specialists to seek advice on whether the woman could enter the UK on her Russian passport in order to fly on to the USA.
