'Virginia wanted to stay close to her kids'

Prince Andrew's sex accuser's ashes in Australia... in snub to her native US

- BY CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN US Editor

PRINCE Andrew's sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre has been cremated in Australia not the US, to remain close to her children.

Giuffre, 41, who was a “teen sex slave” of the royal’s friend Jeffrey Epstein, died at her rural home 50 miles north of Perth on April 25.

But she did not want her ashes returning to her native America, where her brothers both live.

A source said: “Virginia wanted to be close to her children, even though she had not seen them for a while because of the bitter rift between her and her husband.

“Keeping her ashes in Perth was her way of never leaving them again.

“Virginia never stopped loving her kids. They were her life. That's what makes this so tragic.

“Even when they were apart, they were still her world. She wanted to heal but life kept throwing more at her.”

Giuffre was found unresponsive at her home in Neergabby but police are not treating the death as suspicious.