Jeffrey Epstein housed victims of abuse in network of London flats – even after 2015 Met Police report
Despite the Met Police receiving a sex trafficking report in 2015, Jeffrey Epstein reportedly sheltered several women he allegedly abused at several flats in London.
A BBC investigation revealed that Epstein rented four flats in Kensington and Chelsea and that six women resided in them after they emerged as victims of the convicted pedophile.
Some of these women were forced to recruit others and were regularly transported by Eurostar to visit him in Paris, including 10 times during the last six months of his life.
Even after Virginia Giuffre reported Epstein to the Metropolitan Police in 2015, many of the women were brought to the UK from Russia and Eastern Europe.
A second woman reported the harassment to the Met in early 2020, but it is unclear whether this complaint was taken into account.
The Met said at the time that it followed “reasonable lines of inquiry” and interviewed Ms Giuffre multiple times after she submitted her report.
Leigh Day’s human rights lawyer Tessa Gregory said she was “surprised” that UK police had not launched an investigation into Epstein’s activities so far.
“Where there are credible allegations of people trafficking, the UK state has a positive legal obligation to conduct a prompt, effective and independent investigation, even if no victims emerge,” he said.
The BBC was able to locate the flats by reviewing 10,000 pages of Epstein’s credit card bills, tracking shipments of gifts, and examining the exterior of one flat that led to the lease.
Despite being located in one of London’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, the flats can be full of women sleeping on sofas.
When confronted with his living conditions, Epstein responded angrily, swearing at a woman and telling her she had “disgusting behavior” and was “a brat who hasn’t accepted responsibility yet.”
Documents seen by the BBC show the women were forced to recruit other young girls and one of them sent images of “cute” models to Epstein for his approval.
The disgraced financier also paid for at least five women to study in London and pay for their courses at English language colleges.
Between 2011 and 2019 he purchased at least 53 tickets to transport women between the UK and France on Eurostar, sometimes taking advantage of discounted youth tickets for those under 25.
One woman was transferred just 16 days before her arrest, leading to her death in prison from a suspected suicide in 2019.
The investigation also uncovered more than 120 private and commercial flights linked to Epstein, arriving and departing from the UK, some with victims on board.
In its efforts to track down former UK-based employees who worked for Epstein, the BBC visited the home of a former member of the household who answered the doorbell but ignored their requests to talk.
She had remained in close contact with the financier, sending him loving emails in 2016 that included: “Thinking about you all the time. Love always.”
A man suspected of being his driver also blocked BBC reporters on WhatsApp.
The Metropolitan Police reiterated that it believed “other international authorities were best placed” to investigate Epstein in 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2025, and found that although officers interviewed Ms Giuffre three times, “no allegations of criminal activity had been made against any person based in the UK”.
Scotland Yard said it was “fully engaged” along with other forces in the National Police Chiefs’ Council group set up following the publication of the Epstein files.
Kevin Hyland, a former senior detective with the Met Police and the UK’s first independent anti-slavery commissioner, said opportunities to investigate the serial criminal had been missed.
“People were outraged that someone had come forward and said, ‘I’ve been kidnapped by this man’ and yet he was allowed to continue. Who within the police made that decision?” he said.
Other British officials had passed details of Epstein’s activities to the FBI; These included the National Crime Agency, which sent financial intelligence showing payments made to Coutts’ bank for the rent of a flat in Chelsea where he housed the victims.
Lisa Phillips, one of Epstein’s survivors, said: BBC News Night Last week “many women in the UK have come forward through their lawyers, the Metropolitan Police or their local police station” and called for a public inquiry “so we can find out what went wrong and how we can prevent this in the future”.
The Metropolitan Police have been contacted Independent for comment.
