Amid the massive December 2025 release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files by the U.S. Department of Justice, one macabre detail has captured global attention: a photograph inside Epstein’s lavish New York townhouse showing a Spitting Image-style latex puppet of the then-Prince Andrew positioned conspicuously behind Ghislaine Maxwell. The caricature, with its exaggerated features familiar to British audiences from the 1980s-1990s satirical show, serves as a chilling visual footnote to allegations first detailed by Virginia Giuffre in her explosive memoir Nobody’s Girl.
Giuffre, who died by suicide in April 2025 at age 41, described in her book—published posthumously in October and now exceeding one million copies sold—how, at 17, she was allegedly trafficked to Andrew. During a 2001 encounter at Epstein’s Manhattan residence, Maxwell reportedly gifted Andrew the puppet as a joke. What ensued, Giuffre claimed, was degrading: Andrew allegedly used the puppet’s hand to touch her breast while she forced a smile, before he himself groped Johanna Sjoberg. Sjoberg’s 2016 court testimony aligns closely, recalling Andrew manipulating the puppet onto Giuffre prior to touching her directly. Though the newly unveiled photo does not capture the incident, the puppet’s documented presence in Epstein’s home lends unsettling credibility to these accounts.
The former royal, now simply Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after being stripped of titles in 2025, has consistently denied any wrongdoing, describing his Epstein ties as regrettable. Yet the consequences have been severe: a costly 2022 out-of-court settlement with Giuffre, removal from royal duties, and permanent exile from public life.
Beyond the puppet, the latest files include numerous images of Andrew with Epstein and Maxwell across prestigious settings, underscoring the extraordinary access he afforded the convicted sex offenders. His ex-wife Sarah Ferguson also appears in some peripheral shots, highlighting the couple’s social entanglement with Epstein’s circle.
Giuffre’s memoir transcends her personal story, exposing Epstein’s trafficking operation and naming powerful figures allegedly involved. Her insistence on publication before her death has ensured her voice endures, galvanizing renewed scrutiny of the case.
Survivors, however, remain frustrated with extensive redactions obscuring perpetrators’ names. One victim vented: “Stop redacting names that don’t need redacting—we’re protecting predators, not victims.” Another lamented systemic betrayal: “The DOJ is failing us again. Important names are blacked out, and transparency feels hollow.”
A particularly heartbreaking revelation confirms that Maria Farmer alerted the FBI to Epstein and Maxwell in 1996, reporting child pornography and abuse—yet authorities took no action. Farmer, an artist employed by Epstein, has fought for decades to be believed. The unsealed records finally validate her early warning, but the inaction allowed untold further harm.
The puppet photograph crystallizes the grotesque entitlement at the heart of the Epstein scandal. For Andrew, it is another indelible stain; for survivors like Giuffre (posthumously), Farmer, and others, it reignites demands for unredacted truth and genuine accountability. As thousands more documents await review, the world watches whether justice—long delayed—will finally prevail.
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