Shocking Connection: Epstein's Flights Linked to British Abuse Victims

Tue Dec 16 2025 09:13:05 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A BBC investigation reveals a disturbing connection between Jeffrey Epstein's flights to the UK and alleged victims. The findings highlight a crucial lack of investigation into Epstein's operations in Britain, raising questions about accountability and justice for victims.

A recent BBC investigation has uncovered nearly 90 flights associated with Jeffrey Epstein that arrived at and departed from UK airports, with evidence suggesting that some of these flights included British women who alleged abuse. Legal experts express concerns over the absence of a comprehensive UK investigation into Epstein's activities, despite warnings from US lawyers representing victims. This revelation prompts serious discussions about criminal justice processes and the fate of those trafficking victims.

Almost 90 flights linked to Jeffrey Epstein arrived at and departed from UK airports, some with British women on board who say they were abused by the billionaire, a BBC investigation has found.

We have established that three British women who were allegedly trafficked appear in Epstein's records of flights in and out of the UK and other documents related to the convicted sex offender.

US lawyers representing hundreds of Epstein victims told the BBC it was 'shocking' that there has never been a 'full-scale UK investigation' into his activities on the other side of the Atlantic.

The UK was one of the 'centrepieces' of Epstein's operations, one said.

Testimony from one of these British victims helped convict Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell of child sex-trafficking in the US in 2021. But the victim has never been contacted by UK police, her Florida-based lawyer Brad Edwards told the BBC.

The woman, given the name Kate in the trial, was listed as having been on more than 10 flights paid for by Epstein in and out of the UK between 1999 and 2006.

The BBC is not publishing further details about the women in the documents because of the risk this might identify them.

US lawyer Sigrid McCawley said the British authorities have 'not taken a closer look at those flights, at where he was at, who he was seeing at those moments, and who was with him on those planes, and conducted a full investigation'.

Under the Jeffrey Epstein Transparency Act, the deadline to release all US government files on the sex-offender financier is Friday. The flight logs were among thousands of documents from court cases and Epstein's estate which have been made public over the past year, revealing more about his time in the UK, such as trips to royal residences.

It revealed that:

The incomplete flight logs and manifests record 87 flights linked to Epstein - dozens more than were previously known - arriving or departing from UK airports between the early 1990s and 2018
Unidentified 'females' were listed among the passengers travelling into and out of the UK in the logs
Fifteen of the UK flights took place after Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor, which should have raised questions from immigration officials

Although Epstein died in jail in 2019, before his trial on charges of trafficking minors for sex, legal experts have told the BBC a UK investigation could reveal whether British-based people enabled his crimes.

US lawyer Brad Edwards, who has been representing Epstein victims since 2008, told us 'three or four' of his clients are British women 'who were abused on British soil both by Jeffrey Epstein and others'. Other victims were recruited in the UK, trafficked to the United States and abused there, he said.

In a number of the logs of Epstein's private planes, including some detailing trips to the UK, women on the flight are identified only as unnamed 'females'.

It's evident that Epstein was careful in selecting airports, likely to facilitate the trafficking of victims. Such practices raise serious questions about the complicity of existing regulations and enforcement, particularly during the timeline of the individual flights.

As investigations continue regarding Epstein's international operations, the pressing need for a thorough inquiry into the potential role of British authorities grows ever more urgent.