Nigel Cawthorne called on Home Secretary Priti Patel to demand the Metropolitan Police release detailed security logs that could show the Duke of York's whereabouts on the night he is alleged to have had sex with Virginia Giuffre. Mr Cawthorne's demand for a "full and proper investigation" by the Yard comes just three days before the next civil case hearing in New York, when Andrew will be represented in court by his new American attorney.

       The Queen's second son, 61, has been accused of sexual assault and rape by Mrs Giuffre, formerly Roberts. She claims she was forced to have sex with the duke when she was 17 and is seeking up to ￡14million in damages. The FBI still wants to interview Andrew as part of a worldwide investigation into his late friend, the Wall Street financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

       The prince, who has strenuously denied all the allegations and says he does not recall ever meeting Mrs Giuffre, faces another potential minefield next month, when the first criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's alleged "procurer" of underage girls, begins.

       Yesterday Mr Cawthorne, who wrote the best-selling book Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace, said: "There is no reason for Scotland Yard to withhold evidence and every reason to share the royal protection logs that detail where he is every minute of every day."