02/18/2026, 08:1502/18/2026, 08:15
British police are investigating whether US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein used London Stansted Airport as a hub for trafficking victims of abuse. The police in the county of Essex, northeast of London, said that clues in the Epstein files recently published by the US Department of Justice were being investigated. It’s about suspicious flights with private planes that arrived and departed from Stansted. According to sources at the British broadcaster BBC, the step now taken does not yet mean the start of large-scale investigations.
Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019. Image: keystone
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently denounced serious failures by the British police in investigating the Epstein criminal case and called for a detailed investigation. In a guest article for the weekly newspaper New Statesman, Brown wrote that emails contained in the files clearly showed that Epstein had young women and girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia flown in via Stansted. At least one of the victims had a connection to the then Prince Andrew. British women were also on board the machines called “Lolita Express”.
Explosive report about dozens of private flights
According to BBC research, around 90 such smuggling flights have taken off from British airports over the years, Brown wrote – 15 of them after 2008, at a time when Epstein had already been legally convicted of abuse. “How it could be that there were further flights should have been thoroughly investigated,” criticized the Labor politician, who led the British government from 2007 to 2010. But that didn’t happen.
Brown’s conclusion: “The British authorities had little or no idea who was being trafficked through our country and for whom other than Epstein.” After reading the Epstein files, he was “shocked to the core” – not only because of the human depths that emerged in them, but also because of “the role of Great Britain, which has not yet been recognized”. The investigative authorities would have to track down Epstein’s accomplices and check whether influential friends of the financier, who had connections in the highest social circles, protected him from investigations in the United Kingdom.
Brown: Investigators need to question Andrew
Brown also commented explicitly on the involvement of King Charles’ brother in the Epstein case. He was “privately informed” that during the investigation into Andrew’s role, important information about flights was not properly examined. That’s why he asked the police to do this as part of the new investigation. “They have to question Andrew just because of the Stansted revelations,” demanded Brown.
Britain’s Prince Andrew.Image: keystone
The ex-prince, who also fell out of favor within the British royal family, has so far rejected all allegations. He has not yet commented on the latest allegations.
Following recent headlines, Stansted Airport denied any responsibility. The British Border Guard is responsible for checking passengers on board private planes, it said in a statement. The airport has no insight into the passenger lists. (sda/dpa)
More about the Epstein files: