Officials from President Biden’s government reaffirmed the US and UK’s ‘close relationship’ when it comes to offering ‘legal assistance’ in criminal matters amid growing frustration over Prince Andrew’s refusal to engage with investigators

A US government official told the Sun: ‘The US and the UK have a close, productive and resilient law enforcement and mutual legal assistance relationship.

‘We remain in close contact on many active cases on a daily basis and will continue to seek assistance in criminal matters as we provide similar assistance in return.’

Prosecutors last year sent the British government a formal request, known as a mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) submission, asking for access to the prince so they could talk to him.

It was reported that Andrew remains a person of interest to prosecutors in the office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York . And as a person of interest, the Queen’s son is viewed at least as a potential witness – and questioning him would form part of the investigation into possible co-conspirators.

This comes after Virginia Giuffre, who has said she was abused by Epstein, filed a civil complaint against Andrew in Manhattan federal court.

Ms Giuffre, who used to be known as Virginia Roberts, alleges Epstein forced her to have unwanted sexual intercourse with Andrew at the London home of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell – Epstein’s alleged Madame.

Ms Giuffre is now suing Andrew in a New York court for alleged ‘rape in the first degree’, sexual battery and sexual abuse, claiming she thought she’d be murdered by Epstein if she didn’t sleep with Andrew.

The Duke of York has strongly denied the allegations.

Earlier this month, the UK’s most senior police officer Dame Cressida Dick revealed she had told Met detectives to review the claims against the prince, warning: ‘No one is above the law.’

Ghislaine Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges that she procured teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004. She is expected to go on trial in November

Epstein died in his jail cell in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking.

Prosecutors said security camera footage showed Epstein, 66, who was found dead in his Manhattan federal prison cell this past August, was alone in his cell the night officials said he killed himself.

In an exclusive interview on “Fox & Friends” last month, pioneering forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden revealed Epstein’s body bore telltale signs of homicide, despite the official ruling that he had killed himself.

The bombshell claim by Baden, a former New York City medical examiner who has worked on high-profile cases during a five-decade medical career, reignited suspicions that surfaced immediately after Epstein, who was awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges involving underage girls, was discovered dead in his cell on Aug. 10.

New York City Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson ruled Epstein’s cause of death to be a suicide by hanging.

In announcing a case against two guards accused of falsifying records, prosecutors said Tuesday that video surveillance showed that nobody had entered the area housing Epstein.

Baden, the pathologist hired by Epstein’s brother to investigate his death, said he still was not convinced and wanted to know more from guards about the position of Epstein’s body when he was found.

Mark Epstein, Jeffrey’s next of kin, had hired Baden to perform an independent investigation because the family wasn’t getting answers, the pathologist told Fox News.

Last month, Baden, who observed the autopsy, told Fox News its findings were more consistent with homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging. He noted that Epstein had two fractures on the left and right sides of his larynx, specifically the thyroid cartilage or Adam’s apple, as well as one fracture on the left hyoid bone above the Adam’s apple, Baden said.

“Those three fractures are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation,” Baden, who is also a Fox News contributor, said at the time.

Baden previously had probed cases involving O.J. Simpson, President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, record producer Phil Spector, New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez and many others.

“I’ve not seen in 50 years where that occurred in a suicidal hanging case,” the 85-year-old medical legend said.

There were also hemorrhages in Epstein’s eyes that were common in homicidal strangulation and uncommon, though not unheard of, in suicidal hangings, the forensic pathologist said.

Andrew has come under new scrutiny for his friendship with Epstein after the financier killed himself three weeks ago in a New York City lockupwhere he was being held on sex trafficking charges involving young girls.

The 59-year-old Duke of York said in a statement Saturday that he met Epstein 10 years ago and saw him infrequently, probably no more than once or twice a year, Sky News reported.

But Andrew acknowledged being Epstein’s houseguest “in a number of his residences,” according to the news outlet.

“At no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behavior of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction,” Andrew said in a statement.

Epstein avoided federal charges after pleading guilty in 2008 to in Florida to soliciting prostitution from a minor. He served nights in prison over a 13-month period as part of the sweetheart deal.

Andrew said it was a “mistake and an error” to see Epstein after his release in 2010.

He also said he had “tremendous sympathy for all those affected by Epstein’s behavior.

“His suicide has left many unanswered questions and I acknowledge and sympathize with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure,” Andrew continued.

The painting showed the former president lounging on a chair in the Oval Office wearing red heels and a blue dress reminiscent of a famous Monica Lewinsky outfit.

According an anonymous source who spoke to DailyMailTV, the painting was secretly photographed inside the paedophile’s $56 million home in October 2012.

She told DailyMailTV: “It was absolutely Bill Clinton. It was shocking – it was definitely a painting of him. It was a very provocative, sexual picture. He was wearing heels, a blue dress and his hand was in a weird position.”

Epstein was found hanged in his cell in a New York jail at the weekend and an investigation into his death is ongoing

Epstein, who was said to have hanged himself overnight, was found dangling by 7:30a.m on Saturday August 10 and was reportedly transported from the jail to New York Downtown Hospital where he was found to be in cardiac arrest at the time of arrival before being confirmed dead.

Epstein was accused of arranging to have sex with girls as young as age 14 in the early 2000s at Epstein’s residences in Manhattan and Florida, has been held without bail at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.