Epstein trafficked women ‘through UK airports until month before arrest’ in 2019

Jeffrey Epstein was reportedly trafficking women through UK airports until just a month before his arrest in 2019.

The paedophile financier travelled to and from Britain on his private jet more than 60 times, while he booked commercial flights from, or through the country, as late as June 2019, according to The Times, which analysed documents released in the Epstein files.

The newspaper reported that six police forces are investigating whether women were trafficked into British commercial airports and RAF bases on Epstein’s private jet. It added that fresh documents reveal Epstein’s jet landed at RAF Northolt as recently as 2015.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown wrote to six police forces demanding investigations into whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor used jets, funded by the taxpayer, and RAF bases, during his time as trade envoy to meet up with the convicted sex offender. The former prince has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

At least 10 police forces are looking into allegations related to Epstein.

Former chief crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal called the new findings “scandalous”.

He told The Times: “Time and time again when the police have been asked to investigate Epstein in respect of sexual abuse and trafficking, we’ve been told that a review found no need… We’ve seen this week how when the state is the alleged victim that the state can move at pace. When women are the alleged victims, it finds an excuse not to move at all.”

The newspaper said that flights were arranged by associates of Epstein for a Russian woman, whose name has been redacted, who flew from Heathrow to New York on 1 June and returned on 9 June 2019, with Epstein arrested just a month later on 6 July.

It also reported that documents show Epstein’s private jet landed at RAF Northolt two years later than previously thought. A fuel receipt appears to show a plane taking on fuel at the RAF base on 8 May 2015, when previous recordings of flights were only as recent as 2013.

Epstein reportedly took dozens of flights in and out of British airports, mostly London Luton, on his private Boeing 727 before he was incarcerated in 2008, with trips continuing following his release from prison, albeit less frequently.

Sir Keir Starmer dodged calls for a public inquiry into Epstein and his possible use of British airports to traffic girls into the country on Wednesday, insisting that any police investigations should take their course first.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for the government to release all flight logs and documents regarding the disgraced billionaire.

Mr Mountbatten-Windsor and former US ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson were both arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and released on bail earlier this month over their alleged links with Epstein.

On Tuesday, ministers agreed to release files related to the appointment of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor as trade envoy in 2001.

The former Duke of York faces accusations of sharing sensitive information with Epstein while acting as a special representative for trade and investment between 2001 and 2011.

Two British men jailed for 20 years for smuggling cocaine into Bali

Two British men have been jailed for a combined 20 years after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into Bali.

Kial Garth Robinson, 29, from Chichester, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and Piran Ezra Wilkinson, 48, was handed a nine-year sentence on Thursday.

Both have been ordered to pay a fine of approximately £45,000 or serve an additional 190 days in jail.

Robinson, a landscape gardener by profession, had been charged with multiple breaches of Indonesia’s drug laws, including drug trafficking, importation and possession.

He was arrested on 3 September 2025 at Bali International Airport after customs officers found 1.321g of the drug in his bag, according to prosecutors.

Both men told authorities that Robinson had been recruited into the scheme by a man named Santos, who ordered him to take the drugs from Barcelona to Bali. The pair had met the week before their arrest.

Robinson’s lawyer, Robert Khuana, said his client accepted the sentence and insisted that he had been “trapped in a syndicate scenario”. Wilkinson’s lawyer said his client also accepted the sentence and that the event would be a lesson for him going forward.

In December last year, a video showed Robinson being brought into Denpasar District Court in orange prison overalls, where he was seen making a series of hand gestures including a thumbs up and a peace sign.

“Give them a smile,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. “Give them a thumbs up.”

Prosecutors said ahead of the trial: “The defendant had been given a further $3,000 (£2,250) on 1 September 2025 to pay for flight tickets from Barcelona to Bali and from Bali to Thailand where the defendant planned to return to a week later.

“This was the first time the defendant had ever carried or brought narcotics into Indonesia. The defendant had also never carried or brought narcotics into any other country before.”

They added: “There was also a budget to rent a room at Anginsepoi Villa, and buy clothing, food and beverages, and other necessities.”

Drug trafficking is a serious offence in Indonesia, with the death penalty being the most severe punishment applied to those found guilty.

Bali uses the firing squad for its capital punishment offences, but has not implemented the penalty since 2016, when four men were executed for drug trafficking.

Unprecedented Madeleine McCann drama announced – but family has no involvement

Channel 5 is set to air the first drama to be based on Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, almost 19 years after the three-year-old was taken from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Madeleine went missing in May 2007, and the case garnered international attention, with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann’s emotional turmoil laid bare as they desperately pleaded for anyone with information to come forward.

But in September 2007, the couple found themselves named suspects in their daughter’s disappearance and were questioned by Portuguese police. They were later acquitted when authorities said there was no evidence against them.

Channel 5’s drama will focus on Kate being questioned, with Killing Eve star Laura Bayston playing the former GP in the film, titled Suspect: Kate McCann.

The broadcaster confirmed toThe Independent that the McCanns are “not involved editorially”. They “have been made aware of the film,” a spokesperson added.

While Madeline’s disappearance has been the focus of many documentaries over the years, this marks the first time it has been dramatised.

In a press release, Channel 5 says the drama “explores the period when flawed evidence against the McCanns was released to the press, changing the global media narrative and creating a false legacy on social media that persists to this day”.

It adds that Bayston delivers a “raw and visceral performance of a mother having to maintain her faith that her daughter will be found despite extraordinary challenges”.

Commissioning Editor Dan Louw said: “This fantastic film goes where the cameras couldn’t – behind the closed doors of the interview room – to create a deeply moving drama from documentary evidence.

“Suspect: Kate McCann is one of the most tense, moving and shocking films you will see this year.”

The search for Madeleine remains ongoing. Kate McCann last year reflected on the moment her daughter went missing as she backed The Independent’s SafeCall campaign to fund a free, round-the-clock service to reach the 72,000 UK children who disappear every year.

“I don’t often speak about the details, but not because they fade; they continue to live quietly alongside you, every day. Some experiences never leave – you simply learn to carry them,” she wrote.

“Whenever I hear about a young person who feels vulnerable, frightened, or at risk, it resonates so deeply. I recognise the fear, the exhaustion, and the fragile balance between hope and heartbreak that families live with every day. It is also why the SafeCall service matters so profoundly.”

The main suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance is a German man named Christian Brueckner, who was last year released from prison after serving a seven-year sentence for the 2005 rape of a woman in Portugal’s Algarve region, in the area where Madeleine went missing.

Channel 5’s film is part of a two-episode limited series. The second, which has the working title Suspect: The Road Rage Killer, examines the 1996 case of Tracie Andrews, who killed her fiancé after an argument in their car.

Stephen Hawking pictured in Epstein files sipping cocktail

A photograph of the late scientist Stephen Hawking relaxing on a sun lounger while sipping on a cocktail has been revealed in the Epstein files.

The world-renowned British theoretical physicist is seen reclining in the undated picture, alongside two women who are understood to be his long-term carers, since he needed round-the-clock care. The trio are pictured holding cocktails, with Hawking’s drink being steadied by one of the women.

Hawking, whose pioneering work on black holes and general relativity in the universe revolutionised modern cosmology, died in 2018, aged 76, after living with motor neurone disease for more than 55 years.

The photograph, included in documents released by the US Department of Justice as it investigates sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was taken in 2006 during a science symposium at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, St Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, where Hawking gave a speech on quantum cosmology.

Hawking’s name appears hundreds of times in the Epstein files, although simply being identified in the documents does not indicate any wrongdoing.

Hawking has previously been seen in photographs taken on Epstein’s Caribbean island, although no pictures of him and the convicted paedophile together are known to exist.

He was among 21 scientists who visited St Thomas and Epstein’s 75-acre private island, Little Saint James, for a science event.

According to the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, in 2012, guests met to “discuss, relax on the beach, and take a trip to the nearby private island retreat” during the event “to determine what the consensus is, if any, for defining gravity”.

Two years ago, court documents revealed that Epstein told his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell she could offer a financial reward to friends of his accuser Virginia Giuffre if they could “help prove” an apparent allegation Hawking had engaged in an “underage orgy” was false.

A photograph released in 2015 showed Hawking in his wheelchair at an outdoor dinner on Little Saint James with several other people.

Another picture shows the cosmologist in a submarine, having a tour of the island’s seabed.

Epstein had reportedly modified the underwater vessel to allow Hawking to get into it.

A spokesperson for the Hawking family said: “Professor Hawking made some of the greatest contributions to physics in the 20th century, while at the same time being the longest-known survivor of motor neurone disease, a debilitating condition which left him reliant on a ventilator, voice synthesiser, wheelchair and round-the-clock medical care. Any insinuation of inappropriate conduct on his part is wrong and far-fetched in the extreme.”

This article was amended on 25 February 2026 to include the statement from the spokesperson for the Hawking family.

Andrew must repay public money if it was misused, Reeves says

Rachel Reeves has said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should repay funds into the public purse if he is found to have misused them.

The former prince was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office last week before being released under investigation, having spent 11 hours in custody on his 66th birthday.

He is accused of sharing sensitive information with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein during his time as UK’s special representative for international trade and investment.

Since then, retired civil servants have claimed that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor allegedly used taxpayers’ money for massages and excessive travel costs during his time as the UK’s trade envoy.

The BBC reported that one ex-civil servant initially refused to cover the cost of a massage for Andrew but was overruled by senior staff. They told the broadcaster: “I thought it was wrong… I’d said we mustn’t pay it, but we ended up paying it anyway.”

A former Whitehall official, who oversaw finances, separately told the BBC they had “absolutely no doubt” about the claim’s authenticity, having seen similar expenses for his overseas trips.

The chancellor told The i that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor “of course” should pay back any money if he is found to have misused it.

Ms Reeves was also asked if she agreed with trade minister Chris Bryant’s verdict that the former Duke of York was a “rude, arrogant and entitled man”.

She responded: “Well, I’ve never met [Mountbatten-Windsor] and I think that’s probably for the best.”

Calls have grown from a range of public figures for a wider probe into Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s past dealings with Epstein.

He has denied any wrongdoing over his links to the convicted sex offender, but has not directly responded to the latest allegations.

Despite being stripped of his title last year, he is still eighth in line to the throne, and an Act of Parliament would be required to remove him and prevent him from ever becoming king.

About that, the chancellor said: “In terms of the succession to the throne, the government have already said that we’re looking at that.”

Searches at Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home, Royal Lodge, ended on Tuesday, Thames Valley Police said.

Assistant chief constable Oliver Wright said: “Officers have now left the location we have been searching in Berkshire. This concludes the search activity that commenced following our arrest of a man in his sixties from Norfolk on Thursday.

“We understand the significant public interest in this case and our investigation remains ongoing.

“It is important that our investigators are given the time and space to progress their work. We will provide updates when it is appropriate to do so, but this is unlikely to be for some time.”

Win £60k and better your home-buying story with Experian

Buying your first home is a big deal. One small step up the ladder is a giant leap into a new phase of life. On the other hand, you’ll never have done something remotely that expensive – and that’s scary.

Let’s face it, getting there isn’t easy. The average first-time buyer in the UK currently pays £311,034 for their first home. To help get a mortgage you need a deposit, a steady income and, crucially, a strong credit score.

To help you better your home-buying story, Experian is offering an incredible £60k cash prize to help one lucky buyer turn their dream home into a reality. Enter here to be in with a chance.*

For many people, times have been particularly tricky with money over the last few years. If bills have been hard to meet, your credit score might have taken a hit. This can make it harder to get a lender to give the thumbs up to a decent mortgage. A massive stumbling block to getting that first home.

But help is at hand. Experian is the money platform that helps would-be first-time buyers make the kind of smart money moves that’ll grow their score, and their chances of a mortgage they can afford.

They want everyone to have a better shot at getting that first-own-home feeling. So, they’re running a prize draw in February and March 2026, offering new customers the chance to win £60k – the equivalent of the average deposit for a first-time buyer in the UK.

The competition is live on the Experian website now and will run until 18th April. To be able to enter you need to sign up as a new customer of Experian during this period.

It’s a number generated by a credit reference agency like Experian, and it reflects your financial history over the last six years. This includes things like how reliable you’ve been at paying bills on time and meeting your monthly payments for loans and credit cards.

The score’s a handy snapshot of all of this. The higher your score, the more likely you are to get a mortgage. As your score gets better, so do your chances of seeing better interest rates – and saving money on interest can make a big difference to what you’re paying out every month. Over the lifetime of a mortgage, it could mean savings in the tens or even hundreds of thousands.

Whether or not you’re the lucky winner of the prize draw, there’s plenty you can do to help your score grow. Getting a free Experian account is the first step in taking control and getting on the path to owning your own place.

Understanding your credit report is really important. Whilst your credit score is a snapshot of where you’re at, your credit report is your financial CV. It shows things like the loans, credit cards and mobile phone contracts you have, and how well you’re paying them off. It highlights any court judgments or insolvencies, whether you’re on the electoral roll, and if you’ve made any recent applications for credit.

Ideally, you want to check your credit report about a year before you apply for the mortgage. This will let you see what lenders see when you apply – plus it gives you a little more time to get on top of any issues. There are some quick wins – like registering to vote – easy things that lenders love to see.

A little more challenging is reducing any debt you can: try to keep credit card balances at under 30 per cent of the limit. Lower balances help your score and show lenders you’re in control of your money. If you’ve got unused credit cards or store accounts you don’t need, consider closing them, especially if they come with fees. A quick note on that though – if you’ve held an account for years, this can help show long-term stability which lenders really like.

Conversely, if you don’t have much credit history then it can be tricky for lenders to get a sense of your reliability, so in that case it’s worth thinking about getting a credit card and spending responsibly on it. Pay off the balance off in full each month. That way you won’t be charged interest and it looks good to lenders.

It’s best not to make any credit applications in the six months before your mortgage application though, as this can be seen negatively by lenders. So if you are applying for a card, do it before that point.

There are lots of steps you can take to correct financial difficulties and get your credit score back on track. If you’ve had a tough time recently – an illness perhaps, or an unexpected job loss – you can add a Notice of Correction to your account, a short statement that explains what happened and gives context to lenders.

If you’re finding it tricky to make payments on time, for whatever reason, it’s important to speak up. Contact the lender you’re struggling to pay and let them know. There are free debt charities that help thousands of people every day that you could contact too. And it’s important to know, seeking this kind of guidance won’t impact your score.

All these steps will help get you mortgage-ready. The better prepared you are, the more likely you are to get your very own place sooner.

To find out more about your credit score and how to grow it head to Experian

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Jimmy Lai’s fraud conviction quashed by Hong Kong court

A Hong Kong appellate court on Thursday quashed fraud convictions against media magnate Jimmy Lai, a rare victory in the prominent activist’s legal battles.

Lai, 78, an outspoken critic of China‘s ruling Communist Party and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, will stay in prison because he was sentenced to 20 years, earlier this month, after being convicted in another case brought under a China-imposed national security law.

That came more than five years after he was arrested under the law, which was used in a years-long crackdown on many of Hong Kong’s leading activists. Lai’s plight has evoked grief over the city’s loss of press freedom and sparked an international outcry, though the city’s authorities insist his case had nothing to do with media independence.

The conviction overturned on Thursday was from an earlier fraud case in which prosecutors alleged that a consultancy firm controlled by Lai had used office space that his media business rented for publication and printing purposes.

Lai was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison in 2022 after being found guilty of two fraud charges.

A lower court judge found that Lai and his co-defendant, Wong Wai-keung, had concealed that the firm was occupying space and violated a lease agreement, saying he had used his media organisation as a protective shield. He also fined Lai 2 million Hong Kong dollars (£188,000).

Judges at the higher court ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants had made false representations, throwing out both convictions.

Neither defendant appeared in court.

The ruling could slightly reduce Lai’s total prison time. The judges handling Lai’s national security case allowed the two sentences to be served concurrently for only two years, with the other 18 years to be added after the fraud sentence.

The lengthy sentence has raised concerns that he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Lai’s children have expressed hopes that a visit by US president Donald Trump to Beijing could help secure the release of their father, a British citizen. The White House has confirmed that Mr Trump will travel to China on 31 March through 2 April to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper has said Lai was sentenced for exercising his right to freedom of expression and called on the Hong Kong authorities to release him on humanitarian grounds.

Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have defended Lai’s sentencing in the national security case, saying it reflected the spirit of the rule of law. They also insisted the security law is necessary for the city’s stability.

My friend keeps copying me – and we’re in our forties

Dear Vix,

I have an embarrassing problem that I’m almost too ashamed to write about – it’s very petty and small! But at the same time, it’s really, really getting to me – and I don’t have anyone to talk to about it. The issue is with one of my closest and dearest friends. Because she keeps copying me!

I know, I sound like a teenager for writing this or for being bothered about it – we are in our forties, after all. But it’s getting on my nerves so much that it’s starting to affect our friendship. I’m finding myself feeling reluctant to tell her anything about my life, or even reply to her messages, because the inevitable always happens: she takes it on as her own. Some recent examples have been: her copying my haircut, her copying the exact same brand-new coat that I had coveted for ages and finally bought – and she even bought the same car as me after I bought it! In the same colour!

I’ve even noticed that she’s started to copy some of my unique passions and interests, too – she’s never been into film, really, but suddenly, she’s dropping in things like, “Oh, I spent Saturday at the BFI”, or is talking about an obscure film festival she wants to go to. She even invited me to a talk by one of *my* favourite directors! I don’t get it – and I don’t like it. Shouldn’t she have grown out of this by now? Aren’t we a bit old to play copycat? Why can’t she get her own interests and stop stealing mine? I feel like she’s taking my identity away!

Frustrated Friend

Dear Frustrated,

Oh, I feel for you. I think at some point in our lives we have all both copied and been copied, but we don’t usually expect that to happen later on in life once we’ve all worked out who we are and what we like. Which is where I’d like to start, because not all of us have managed that. No, not even by the time we are in our forties.

If we look around at our friends, even our family, we will undoubtedly see people who never quite found their “thing”. While some are lucky enough to confidently pursue passions that are synonymous with who they are, others can always seem like they’re “searching” for something: a box to fit into, a career that fits, a partner who matches them. One friend of mine openly admits she spent many years feeling “lost” before she found religion – it is now deeply embedded in who she is and the lifestyle choices she makes. For her, it was the “missing piece”.

When I imagine your friend, I imagine someone who – frankly – isn’t all that sure of herself. She hasn’t given herself permission to like what she likes, freely and with abandon, because (perhaps) she is self-conscious about it; she isn’t sure she is allowed. I imagine someone who is a little unsure of herself, someone lacking in confidence and self-esteem – someone who looks at you and thinks you are incredible.

Even the few examples you have mentioned here – a statement haircut, a new car, a coveted coat and a passion for cinema – tell me that you are someone who isn’t afraid to make her own choices. To put your money where your mouth is. To go out into the world and declare, “This is who I am” and to not really give a s*** if someone doesn’t like it. These are enviable qualities, indeed.

Now, picture your friend, looking at you. Someone bold she admires – someone with the kind of confidence she only wishes she could embody. It doesn’t stop it being irritating, of course, for your likes and interests to be co-opted, but doesn’t it make it a lot easier to feel compassion for her? To understand why she might be doing it – and to feel empathy for her?

In a practical sense, there’s not that much you can do about the copying, I’m afraid. Other than keeping some of your new interests quiet and simply “for you” – as I get older, I’m less and less inclined to shout about the things I love doing publicly – and I notice a lot of my peers feeling the same way – you’re probably just going to have to suck this one up… unless you’re willing to say something to her about it.

But while I’m all for open communication in almost every setting, with this one, I actually suspect it might do more harm than good: it risks wounding a vulnerable person and decimating a friendship, over something that – really – boils down to superficial irritation.

Instead, remember this: there is only one “you”. You are completely unique, completely individual. Someone in the same coat or same car doesn’t – and can’t – take that away from you. Your individualism remains intact.

So, when it comes to copying a few items of clothing or a few cinema trips here and there, let her. Her actions don’t have to affect or impact you – unless you allow them to. But you have far too busy and technicolour a life to spend another moment worrying about that.

Do you have a problem you would like to raise anonymously with Dear Vix? Issues with love, relationships, family and work? Email dearvix@independent.co.uk