Virginia Giuffre renews attack against Prince Andrew in first TV interview, saying she's willing to fight in court

The woman accusing Prince Andrew of having sex with her as a teenager says she is willing to fight a defamation case to prove her story, as she made the claims on TV for the first time.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre has made serious allegations about the prince and his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, warning that she would seek justice by holding Epstein's associates accountable in the wake of his suicide.

Ms Giuffre, now 36, made the claims in her first broadcast interview along with five other Epstein accusers, throwing down the gauntlet for the prince to pursue legal action.

The Duke has always vehemently denied any sexual contact or relationship with Ms Giuffre.

"He's going to keep denying that it ever happened. But he knows the truth and I know the truth," Ms Giuffre told US network NBC.

She went on to say that a defamation suite was her best recourse to hold individuals accountable because of the statute of limitations, which places a time limit on bringing criminal charges.

Ms Giuffre says she first met the Duke in London in 2001 at the home of Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. Ms Giuffre was 17 at the time. She says a notorious picture of the Duke with his arm around her waist was taken during that encounter.

It is the first time Ms Giuffre has spoken in depth about the allegations since Epstein was re-arrested on fresh sex trafficking charges involving dozens of underage girls.

In August, a court unsealed documents relating to a 2015 defamation suit filed by Ms Giuffre against Ms Maxwell, which revealed the 57-year-old was accused of playing a key role in procuring young girls for Epstein.

Epstein was found dead in prison awaiting trial the following day.

Ms Giuffre appeared on NBC's Dateline programme along with five other Epstein accusers to demand justice in the aftermath of his death.

Alongside her was actress Anouska de Georgiou, 42, the first British woman to publicly allege she was abused by Epstein.

Ms De Georgiou, who was at school with the Duchess of Cambridge and now lives in Los Angeles, said the nature of the abuse means you are conditioned to be silenced, isolated and shameful.

"Jeffrey thought that we were disposable and he threw us all away. And look who's still standing," she said.

The other accusers were Rachel Benavidez, who was coming forward for the first time, Jennifer Araoz, Chauntae Davies and Marijke Chartouni.

The interview with the six accusers was part of a longer programme that was due to be aired in the US on Friday night.

Ms Giuffre first made her allegations in a British tabloid newspaper in 2011 in which she said Epstein had held her as a sex slave, lending her out to his rich and famous friends - among them Prince Andrew and famed Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. She said that Ms Maxwell served as his "madam".

Ms Maxwell accused Ms Giuffre of lying, leading to the 2015 defamation suit. The case was settled in May 2017, and the documents were sealed.

All the allegations against the Duke were struck from the court record in 2015 after being described as "immaterial and impertinent" by a judge.

Speaking outside a New York court after the final hearing in the Epstein case last month, she said Prince Andrew "knows what he has done". "Justice now is holding accountable the perpetrators that helped [Epstein] and participated with him," she told NBC.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the most recent allegations or whether the Duke of York would consider taking legal action.

Reiterating previous statements on the matter, she said: “It is emphatically denied that The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”