JUDGES have ordered that a settlement between Prince Andrew’s sex assault accuser and Jeffrey Epstein – which the royal thinks will exonerate him - be made public.

       The 2009 agreement between the multi-millionaire paedophile and his sex slave Virginia Roberts Giuffre will be released on January 3, unless “good cause” can be shown otherwise.

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       Virginia Roberts is suing Prince Andrew 3

       Prince Andrew hopes the settlement will exonerate him Credit: BBC

       Prince Andrew, 61, maintains that a clause in the settlement precludes him from sued by Virginia – who alleges that he sexually assaulted her three times when she was 17.

       In October Virginia’s lawyers agreed to hand over a copy of the settlement for the Duke of York’s lawyers to examine.

       But his legal team have been lobbying for it to be placed on the public record.

       Judges Loretta Preska and Lewis Kaplan – who are overseeing the lawsuit against the Duke – have now backed the claim and ordered the agreement be made public.

       The prince is currently trying to have Virginia’s lawsuit dismissed.

       Both sides have seen the Epstein settlement agreement and made use of it in their arguments, despite the fact it is secret.

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       The royal’s attorneys fired back at Virginia yesterday and claimed she has a “tendency to change her story”.

       They also warned that she could be creating “false memories” with her allegations.

       Andrew Brettler, the prince’s lead lawyer, also claimed Virginia’s story has repeatedly changed and insisted she would have been over the age of consent during any alleged encounter.

       Virginia claims she was made to have sex with the prince by Epstein and his alleged ‘madam’ Ghislaine Maxwell when she was 17 and he was 41, in 2001.

       The duke’s lawyers claim she was an adult under consent laws in New York and therefore will need to actively prove she didn’t consent in order for her claim to proceed.

       Epstein, 66, hanged himself in 2019 while facing trial for sex-trafficking girls.

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       Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself while waiting for sex trafficking girld Credit: AP

       Bombshell ‘evidence' from witness who claims he saw Prince Andrew groping Virginia Roberts to appear in new documentary