Met Police Epstein sex trafficking probe suffers blow as UK flights evidence destroyed'

"Metropolitan Police detectives re-examining trafficking allegations related to Jeffrey Epstein have been told some of the evidence has been destroyed, according to reports. Former prime minister Gordon Brown has written to six police forces calling for 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 paedophile financier."

"The Times said some of the flights date back two decades but the RAF retains passenger manifests for only three months before they are destroyed. Other information such as air traffic control movement sheets detailing aircraft tail numbers or radio call signs are retained for two years. Commercial airline manifests for UK carriers are generally kept for six to seven years, according to the Civil Aviation Authority."

"Although there are significant details of passenger manifests and flight logs in the Epstein files, millions of documents released by the US Department of Justice, some of them are incomplete. Although detectives may seek to interview airport staff and other officials for leads, the destruction policies will make it harder to fill in the gaps on which individuals travelled into the country, and when."

Metropolitan Police detectives re-examining trafficking allegations related to Jeffrey Epstein have been told some evidence has been destroyed. Gordon Brown has written to six police forces requesting investigations into whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor used taxpayer-funded jets and RAF bases while trade envoy to meet Epstein. Officers are investigating whether victims were trafficked on Epstein's private plane into UK commercial airports and RAF facilities. The RAF keeps passenger manifests three months, air traffic control movement sheets two years, and commercial airline manifests six to seven years. Millions of Department of Justice documents are incomplete, hindering identification of travellers and timings. Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office amid related allegations.

Read at www.standard.co.uk