The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has launched a review into “all records” relating to whether Jeffrey Epstein used RAF bases.
The review is expected to look into military records and emails to determine if the sex offender booked RAF airfields on visits to the UK.
Defence Secretary John Healey is said to have told MoD officials to “leave no stone unturned”, The Telegraph reports.
The search will be carried out using details of Epstein’s jet issued by US officials, according to the newspaper.
An MoD spokesman said: “The defence secretary has ordered a review of all records that the department may hold relating to Epstein flights landing at RAF bases to ensure that any information which relates to Epstein’s crimes is uncovered and provided to the relevant authorities.
“The MoD will support any civilian police investigations.
“Our thoughts are with all the victims of Epstein’s vile crimes.”
It was revealed earlier this month that police are assessing information about private flights to and from Stansted Airport following the publication of millions of files relating to the paedophile financier.
John Healey has ordered a review of ‘all records’ relating to Epstein flights at RAF bases, the MoD said
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US DOJ
It came after former prime minister Gordon Brown claimed that the files showed in “graphic detail” how Epstein was able to use the Essex-based airport to “fly in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia”.
In an article for the New Statesman, Mr Brown wrote that files showed Epstein’s jet – the so-called Lolita Express – making 90 flights to or from UK airports, including 15 after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child.
The politician claimed Epstein “boasted” about how cheap the airport charges were in Stansted compared to Paris.
Mr Brown said that Stansted Airport was where “women were transferred from one Epstein plane to another”, adding that “women arriving on private planes into Britain would not need British visas”.
Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019
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REUTERSAn Essex Police spokesman said: “We are assessing the information that has emerged in relation to private flights into and out of Stansted Airport following the publication of the US DoJ (Department of Justice) Epstein files.”
A Stansted Airport spokesman added: “All private aircraft at London Stansted operate through independent Fixed Base Operators, which handle all aspects of private and corporate aviation in line with regulatory requirements.
“All immigration and customs checks for passengers arriving on private aircraft are carried out directly by Border Force.
“They use entirely independent terminals not operated by London Stansted and no private jet passengers enter the main airport terminal.
“The airport does not manage or have any visibility of passenger arrangements on privately operated aircraft.”