Allegations that a 17-year-old was forced to have sex with Britain’s Prince Andrew, which prompted a crisis at Buckingham Palace earlier this year, have been removed from a federal court case by a judge in the US.

Judge Kenneth Marra ordered Virginia Roberts’s accusations about Andrew, the Duke of York, to be struck from the record and denied her attempt to join a lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein, a friend of the prince and a convicted sex offender.

“At this juncture in the proceedings, these lurid details are unnecessary,” Marra wrote in his order, issued at the US district court in southern Florida on Tuesday morning. “These unnecessary details shall be stricken.”

Andrew and Buckingham Palace vehemently deny Roberts’s allegations.
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Marra made no ruling or statement about the veracity of Roberts’s allegations. He said the “factual details regarding with whom and where” she had sex were “immaterial and impertinent” to her argument that she should be allowed to join the lawsuit.

However, Marra noted that Roberts may yet appear as a witness when the long-running case finally goes to trial.

Brad Edwards, an attorney for Roberts, said in a statement that her legal team “absolutely respect” the judge’s ruling, which had recognised Roberts’s right to take part in the case as a witness. Roberts said: “I’m happy to get to participate in this important case.”

more:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/apr/07/prince-andrew-jeffrey-epstein-florida