[imagesource: SWNS]

Last week, we laid out how things are really going from bad to worse for Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

Well, little has changed since then, and the hits just keep on coming.

Enter Steve Scully, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s former telecoms expert, who says he is willing to testify under oath that he saw Prince Andrew groping Virginia Giuffre.

The alleged groping took place on Little St James (below), Epstein’s private hideaway in the Caribbean, which came to be known as “paedo island”.

Scully says he saw the Duke of York with a bikini-clad blonde “between 2001 and 2004”. More from Metro:

He alleges that Andrew, 61, was kissing and grinding against the woman – whom he is convinced is Giuffre, now 38 and at the time known by the surname Roberts…

“There’s no question in my mind that I saw Prince Andrew and Virginia together and no question that he would remember the incident either.

Image: Gabriel Lopez Albarran/AP

“If Virginia’s lawyers call, I will definitely speak to them and I would give a deposition under oath telling them what I saw. He should come clean.”

There is absolutely zero chance of that happening, and Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing.

However, it’s reported that an unnamed source “close to the Duke” says Scully’s claims are questionable, as by 2004, Giuffre was no longer working for Epstein.

Meanwhile, back at the palace, his own royal aides are starting to doubt the story he’s telling, which doesn’t quite add up.

For one, he says he has no recollection of ever meeting Giuffre, despite that infamous photo showing the pair of them together, with Ghislaine Maxwell lurking in the background.

Insider reports:

“No one at the palace knows what to believe about what Prince Andrew is telling them,” a source close to the royal household said…

“Some of it doesn’t stack up. The basic problem is that he’s a massive embarrassment, but you can’t sack him.”

Another royal source told The Times: “There are inconsistencies in his own account and in the credibility of his own account.”

“A massive embarrassment” is accurate, but surely if the US civil lawsuit goes against him, his sacking is inevitable?

Finally, The Daily Mail is running a story claiming Prince Andrew’s lawyers may try and have the lawsuit thrown out, on the basis that he had diplomatic immunity.

Here’s US lawyer Spencer Kuvin, who represents several of Epstein’s victims:

“Ms Giuffre’s lawyers have huge barriers to overcome to get her lawsuit anywhere near a jury. If the Duke engages in the case at all, his legal team will undoubtedly file a motion to dismiss the complaint on numerous different grounds. For sure, they would argue diplomatic immunity. They would have a strong case.”

The Duke of York is currently holed up at Balmoral, his mother’s castle in Scotland, with friends supposedly telling the Mail that he is “cheerful and relaxed”.

If that’s the case, then he really does live in a different world.

[sources:metro&insider&dmail]