‘She was the light that lifted so many survivors’: tributes pour in for Virginia Giuffre

Police said emergency services had been called to a home in Neergabby, near Perth, on Friday night. Giuffre’s family said yesterday that she had taken her life at her farm.

“She lost her life to suicide after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,” they said in a statement. “She was the light that lifted so many survivors. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”

Of all Epstein’s victims, Giuffre took the lead in bringing him to justice and taking on his friend, Prince Andrew. The Duke of York paid her an out-of-court settlement over her claims that he had sexually assaulted her, on the condition there was no admission of liability or an apology.

In an interview with Emily Maitlis on BBC Newsnight, the Duke said he had “no recollection of ever meeting” Giuffre, but his assertion that he was at a Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, on the night in question led to widespread ridicule, and a few days later he stepped back from royal duties.

Giuffre’s lawyer Sigrid McCawley said that her client’s “courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring”, while her publicist Dini von Mueffling said Giuffre was a “most extraordinary” human being, adding: “Deeply loving, wise and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims.”

Yet US rightwing politicians have already linked her death to their campaign for the US Department of Justice to release files about Epstein, whose circle of friends and acquaintances included many of the rich and powerful, including actors, politicians and lawyers.

Epstein, who died in his prison cell in 2019, has become a focus for many on the US Maga (Make America Great Again) right who believe that details of his activities have been covered up by the authorities to protect those friends and acquaintances. Only Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted of helping him.

Donald Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, released a tranche of files last month, but they contained little new information, leading to complaints from figures such as Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican congresswoman.

Yesterday Luna offered her “thoughts and prayers” to Giuffre’s family and said she would “continue to push the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files, as the American people deserve to know the truth”. She added: “Trafficking is a serious crime and destroys lives.”

Giuffre’s death threatens to fuel a fresh wave of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein and his friends.

Giuffre was instrumental in exposing Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, saying she was passed among men “like a platter of fruit”. She was born Virginia Roberts in 1983, and came to the attention of Epstein while working in the spa at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where Maxwell discovered her and recruited her as a “masseuse”.

She was trafficked on Epstein’s private jet, nicknamed the Lolita Express, to his private island of Little St James in the US Virgin Islands. In March 2001, aged 17, she was taken to London, where she alleges she met Prince Andrew at a house in Belgravia.

Eight years later she launched a lawsuit against Epstein and Maxwell, then went public in 2015.

Her story, and a picture of her with Prince Andrew, led to his infamous Newsnight interview in 2019, after which he was forced to step down from royal duties.

He eventually settled her claim in 2022, without admission of liability. Epstein was arrested in 2019, and died by suicide a month later, aged 66, in a New York prison.

In the meantime, Virginia Roberts had married Robert Giuffre, a martial arts instructor. She set up a charity, Speak Out, Act, Reclaim and they settled in Perth in 2020, with their three children. But the final months of her life were increasingly chaotic and the couple are believed to have separated.

On 2 February she was charged with breaching a family violence restraining order and her case was moving through Australia’s courts, with a hearing at Joondalup Magistrates’ Court on 14 March and a further hearing due on 11 June.

Then, on 24 March, Giuffre was involved in a road collision and a week later posted on Instagram that her car had been hit by a school bus.

Alongside a picture of her with a bruised face, she wrote: “I’ve gone into kidney renal failure. They’ve given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist hospital.”

Police said they had received a report of a “minor crash”. She is believed to have left hospital earlier this month.

Virginia Giuffre meets Ghislaine Maxwell while working at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Maxwell introduces her to financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Giuffre, aged 17, is photographed with Prince Andrew at Maxwell’s London home, where she claims he sexually assaulted her.

Giuffre accepts a $500,000 civil settlement from Epstein.

In July, Epstein is arrested and charged with sex trafficking in New Jersey. On 10 August, he is found dead in his prison cell in Manhattan.

Prince Andrew’s BBC Newsnight interview is broadcast, in which he claims that he has no recollection of meeting Giuffre.

Giuffre files a lawsuit in August in New York accusing Prince Andrew of sexual assault and rape.

Giuffre and Andrew reach an out-of-court settlement reportedly worth around £12m, without Prince Andrew admitting liability or making an apology. Maxwell is sentenced to 20 years in prison for five counts of sex trafficking.

Photographs: Miami Herald/TNS