Virginia Giuffre, the crash and the public backlash

After accusing Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of abuse, Giuffre now claims she was in an accident and has days to live. Angela Mollard worries for a woman on the edge i. a _ aT

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California-born Virginia Giuffre, a victim of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has said little in the years since she settled a civil lawsuit with Prince Andrew. While Andrew, a friend of Epstein, rejected any wrongdoing and continues to deny claims he sexually assaulted her when she was 17, the settlement he paid her was reportedly around £12m. In a joint statement with Giuffre that was released at the time, he said he regretted his association with Epstein and commended “the bravery of Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others”.

Yet, three years on from the settlement, Giuffre’s wellbeing is once again of grave concern after the mother of three, now aged 41, posted a distressing image to Instagram showing her bruised and battered face, and saying she had just four days to live after going into renal failure following a car crash.

Giuffre, writing about the crash, said: “I won’t bore anyone with the details, but I think it important to note that when a school bus driver comes at you driving 110km as we were slowing for a turn that no matter what your car is made of it might as well be a tin can. I’ve gone into kidney renal failure, they’ve given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist hospital in urology. I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time, but you know what they say about wishes.”

Since then, she has said, via a family spokesperson, that the picture and caption had been mistakenly posted to her public Instagram and was only meant to be on her private Facebook page.

Fresh accounts disputing Giuffre’s claims have emerged almost daily over the last week. Five years since Andrew’s disastrous – and somewhat bizarre – interview with Emily Maitlis, a series of worrying revelations about his accuser are beginning to emerge.