Epstein files: Four flats, six victims, UK silence

A new BBC investigation has laid bare the full, disturbing scale of Jeffrey Epstein's presence in the United Kingdom-an operation far more organized and enduring than previously understood. Drawing on emails, bank records, and receipts contained within the now-public Epstein files released by the US Justice Department, the investigation reveals that the convicted sex offender maintained at least four rented apartments in one of London's wealthiest neighborhoods. He used these properties to house women he trafficked and abused over a period spanning years. Crucially, this infrastructure flourished in the shadow of repeated decisions by British law enforcement not to open a formal investigation.

A network hiding in plain sight

The four flats were located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea-among the most expensive and exclusive postcodes in Europe. Far from being ad hoc arrangements, the properties formed what investigators now describe as a logistical backbone to Epstein's UK abuse network.

Following his controversial and lenient 2008 non-prosecution agreement in Florida, Epstein intentionally shifted his sex trafficking operations to a global scale. In London, he paid the rent directly, provided monthly allowances to the women living there, and in some cases funded English language courses. This financial control was systematically used as leverage to maintain immense power over his victims.

At least six of the women who lived in these flats have since come forward as victims of Epstein's sexual abuse. Many were brought to the United Kingdom from Russia, Eastern Europe, and other countries-a pattern entirely consistent with international sex trafficking. Documents in the files show frequent cross-border movement, including dozens of Eurostar journeys between London and Paris. Between 2011 and 2019, at least 53 such tickets were purchased for women connected to the network, with trips continuing until just months before Epstein's arrest in July 2019.

The role of international modeling agencies

A critical new component revealed by the expanded document release is the exploitation of the global fashion industry. Epstein's network relied heavily on international modeling agents and specialized staff to facilitate the movement of young women. Many victims were originally scouted under the guise of legitimate modeling contracts or brought to the UK under the pretense of student visas.

By intertwining his abuse ring with the legitimate business of fashion and education, Epstein created a veneer of respectability that allowed his associates to move victims freely across European borders, effectively utilizing London as a major hub for his illicit activities.

Coercion and recruitment

The operation was not simply one of containment. Emails uncovered in the BBC investigation indicate that some of the women housed in the flats were themselves coerced into recruiting others. They were forced to act as scouts in London's fashion and modeling worlds to draw new potential victims into Epstein's orbit.

This structural detail transforms the picture from one of isolated predation into something resembling a self-sustaining criminal enterprise-one with established housing, an active recruitment mechanism, and a steady flow of victims across international borders.

British authorities: aware but inactive

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the investigation is what it reveals about the response-or lack thereof-from UK law enforcement. The Metropolitan Police's first major opportunity to act came in 2015, when Virginia Giuffre alleged she had been trafficked to London and forced to have sex with Prince Andrew in 2001, when she was 17 years old. (Prince Andrew, now using his birth surname Mountbatten-Windsor, has consistently denied all wrongdoing and settled a US civil lawsuit with Giuffre in 2022). Despite the gravity of the claims, the Met declined to open a formal investigation. They stated they had followed "reasonable lines of inquiry," interviewed Giuffre on multiple occasions, and cooperated with US investigators.

That decision, it now emerges, was not the last missed opportunity. By early 2020-well after Epstein's arrest and months after his death in a New York prison in August 2019-a second woman had filed a complaint with the Met alleging she had been abused by Epstein in the United Kingdom. Documentary evidence also suggests that by 2020, British authorities were explicitly aware that Epstein had rented at least one of the Kensington and Chelsea flats.

The Countess of Iveagh connection

The National Crime Agency (NCA) was also involved in monitoring the network, though its actions remained largely confined to sharing intelligence rather than initiating domestic proceedings. A 2020 memo sent by the NCA to the FBI highlighted Epstein-related allegations concerning Clare Hazell, the Countess of Iveagh-a British socialite who married into the Guinness family and reportedly flew on Epstein's private jet on more than 30 occasions.

The memo noted that Hazell had been accused of facilitating sexual abuse, even as the Met maintained there were no allegations against UK-based individuals. Hazell, who died of brain cancer in 2025, was later publicly accused by Virginia Giuffre of acting as a recruiter. Furthermore, the NCA transmitted vital financial intelligence about Epstein's UK transactions to the FBI, including records of payments routed through a prestigious Coutts bank account used to pay the rent for one of the Chelsea flats. The NCA maintains it does not routinely comment on intelligence exchanged with international partners.

London airports as transit points

Beyond the flats themselves, the investigation raises serious questions regarding whether London's airports served as transit infrastructure for the global trafficking operation. The Met recently confirmed it is currently "fully engaged" in a National Police Chiefs' Council working group established following the public release of the Epstein files.

That group is conducting a rigorous assessment of information indicating that major London airports may have been used as transit points in the facilitation of sexual exploitation. If confirmed, this finding would embed the UK's capital even more deeply at the heart of Epstein's global trafficking network.

Missed opportunities, according to experts

Former Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland was unequivocal in his assessment: there were glaring, missed opportunities to investigate Epstein in the UK. He argued that investigators could, and absolutely should, have tracked credit card data and IP addresses linked to suspicious group travel bookings. These are basic intelligence tools routinely available to law enforcement, yet they were seemingly ignored.

The pattern is consistent with heavy criticism leveled at authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, a 2024 lawsuit filed by 12 alleged victims accused the FBI of repeatedly ignoring credible reports about Epstein's activities from as early as 1996, failing to open a proper investigation until 2006. In the UK, multiple complaints-backed by substantial financial and logistical intelligence-appear to have produced no equivalent reckoning during Epstein's lifetime.

The US context and the Epstein files transparency act

The revelations surrounding the London properties arrive amid renewed international scrutiny. Following the unprecedented release of millions of Justice Department documents in 2025 and 2026, watchdog groups and lawmakers are demanding complete accountability for the systemic failures that allowed Epstein's network to operate unchecked. The US Justice Department's inspector general is currently auditing the department's compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, ensuring that the full scope of Epstein's international enablers is finally brought to light.

What comes next

The Met Police has reiterated that it is now fully engaged in the ongoing national review. The release of the Epstein files has reinvigorated public and political pressure on British institutions to account for their conduct during the years when Epstein operated freely in London.

For the six women who have bravely come forward, and the countless others who may yet do so, the BBC's findings offer something the British legal system has so far failed to provide: a fully documented, factual account of what happened, how it was organized, and exactly who knew what, and when.

The pressing question of whether that robust documentation will finally translate into institutional accountability remains unanswered.