Virginia Giuffre's marriage to husband who rescued her from Epstein's before 'split'

Virginia Giuffre, an outspoken sex trafficking survivor who settled a sexual assault lawsuit against Prince Andrew, has died aged 41. The photo of Virginia that most people remember is that of her as a teenager, with the Duke of York's arm around her waist. The picture came to symbolise her case against the prince, and her plight as the highest-profile sex trafficking survivor of .

Virginia was sex trafficked by billionaire paedophile , with his associate Ghislaine Maxwell recruiting her when she was a 16-year-old locker room attendant working at 's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. She claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on at least three occasions when she was 17, including while at Maxwell's infamous London townhouse.

Andrew has always vehemently denied the allegations. In 2022, the Duke reached an out-of-court settlement in New York with Virginia, worth a reported £12 million. This agreement did not admit liability.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Last month Virginia posted a photo, showing her lying on a hospital bed covered in bruises, along with her statement that she had "four days to live" caused the same amount of shock. Police said there had been only a "minor crash" with no reports of serious injuries, while sources close to Virginia said her post had been a "mistake".

The sex abuse survivor reportedly recently split from her husband of two decades, Robert Giuffre, and became estranged from their three teenage children - two sons and a daughter. Until recently, the family had been living an idyllic and quiet life in a £1 million seaside six-bedroomed home in Ocean Reef, Perth.

It was through her husband that Virginia finally escaped paedophile Epstein after years of abuse. In 2002 aged 19, as part of her escape plan, she asked the billionaire to pay her training as a massage therapist and he agreed, flying her to an international training school in Thailand - but only on the condition that she would meet a young Thai girl there and bring her back to the US.

There she met Robert, an Australian martial arts trainer, and the pair married after ten days. She later credited having "rescued me from Epstein and Maxwell's clutches".

When she called Epstein to tell him she would not be returning as agreed or bring the young girl back for him, he replied, "Have a nice life," and hung up the phone. The newly married couple returned to live a new life in , and Virginia tried to forget her ordeal until 2007, when the FBI contacted her as part of their investigation into the American financier.

She initially refused to cooperate, later saying she was "scared to death. I just didn't want my family harmed". It was after the birth of her third child in 2010 that she took the brave step of coming forward publicly and speaking about her experiences of sexual abuse and trafficking, and campaigning for other victims.

Her testimony also led to the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2022 for recruiting and trafficking underage girls for the disgraced billionaire.

However in recent months Virginia's close bond with the family who supported and protected for so many years appears to have broken down. After her alleged split with Robert it is said that she has been unable to see her children, who were placed with him.

In recent weeks, she appeared to be struggling to cope without her children. In a post on March 22, she wrote: "My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them and they're being poisoned with lies. I miss them so very much. I have been through hell & back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else. Hurt me, abuse me but don't take my babies. My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepens."