Police Probe Epstein Private Jet Flights at UK Airports

Britain’s Metropolitan Police is expanding the scope of investigations into the use of UK airports and Royal Air Force bases by aircraft connected to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Its officers are liaising with colleagues in multiple local county police forces seeking to probe how private jets may have been used to carry young women to and from visits to Epstein and associates that may have involved breaches of human trafficking laws.

The investigations involve flights through London-area airports including Stansted (EGSS), Luton (EGGW), Birmingham (EGBB), and Biggin Hill (EGKB), as well as the RAF’s Northolt and Marham bases. The work is part of a wider probe coordinated by the UK’s National Police Chiefs Council into Epstein’s dealings with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—the former Prince Andrew who was arrested last week on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

UK police officers were alerted to details of the flights from evidence released by the U.S. Department of Justice. These documents provided some information about flights using various UK airports, but with apparent gaps in the recorded passenger manifests that could establish specific connections between aircraft.

On February 23, The Times newspaper reported that passenger records may have been destroyed by the RAF after just three months. Passenger name record rules for civil flights in the UK and the EU require details to be kept for five years.

While confirming the ongoing investigation, the Metropolitan Police has not specified which organizations and individuals it is interviewing at the various airports. Last week, Stansted Airport issued a statement indicating that it does not take direct responsibility for the flights in question.

“All private aircraft at London Stansted operate through independent fixed-base operators, which handle all aspects of private and corporate aviation in line with regulatory requirements,” the company said. The airport made a point of adding that the FBOs operate in a way that is “entirely independent” and that “no private jet passengers enter the main airport terminal.”

Last week, an intervention by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown increased pressure for police to conduct a more detailed investigation into the link between Epstein and Mountbatten-Windsor, and in particular, how private flights might have involved human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Brown was Prime Minister between 2007 and 2010, during which period Mountbatten-Windsor traveled extensively at public expense as a trade envoy for the UK government.