PAEDOPHILE billionaire Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself in his New York prison cell today, officials revealed.
The shock death comes two weeks after the 66-year-old was placed on suicide watch when he was found slumped in jail with neck injuries.
A stretcher carrying his body was spotted being wheeled out of the Manhattan Correctional Center around 7.30am this morning (12.30pm UK time).
The ambulance then took the body to New York Downtown Hospital – hours after damming legal documents shed new light on the claims against him.
It was not immediately clear whether the authorities had put in additional safeguards to watch Epstein – an ex pal of Prince Andrew – after the incident last month.
Martin Weinberg, Mr Epstein’s defence lawyer, has not not immediately responded to a request for comment in the US.
Law enforcement officials later confirmed Epstein had taken his own life at MCC Manhattan, where he had been held without bail pending trial on child sex-trafficking charges.
Epstein was busted on July 6 over the alleged sexual abuse of dozens of young girls in his Upper East Side townhouse and his waterfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.
Court documents allege that at least 40 underage girls were brought to Epstein’s mansion for sexual encounters.
He had pleaded not guilty to child sex trafficking charges in New York and could face 45 years in prison if found guilty.
On July 18, a federal judge said that the disgraced financier presented a “danger to the community” and must stay in one of New York’s toughest prisons while he awaits trial.
Epstein’s apparent suicide came hours after legal papers claimed Prince Andrew groped a woman on his lap as she played with a Spitting Image puppet of him.
Johanna Sjoberg alleged he grabbed her breast in 2001 at the New York home of Epstein, according to court papers.
Unsealed documents reveal Andrew allegedly touched Johanna, then aged 21, when they posed for a picture.
In her testimony, she said Andrew and Virginia Giuffre were sat on a couch with the puppet on her lap.
She added: “And so then I sat on Andrew’s lap — and I believe on my own volition — and they took the puppet’s hands and put it on Virginia’s breast, and so Andrew put his on mine.”
Almost 2,000 pages of a lawsuit were released in a defamation case involving Ms Giuffre, who in 2015 claimed Andrew slept with her three times, and Epstein’s ex-lover Ghislaine Maxwell.
The prince strongly denied having sex with her in London and New York when she was 17, and a year later at an orgy on Epstein’s private island in the Virgin Islands.
Another document describes an alleged sexual encounter between Ms Giuffre, now 35, and Andrew in a bathtub.
On Friday we reported how Epstein wanted to pay an underage “sex slave” to have a baby for himself and his Brit socialite lover to bring up, shock court papers claim.
The twisted tycoon allegedly offered the teen a mansion and a monthly allowance to go through with the sordid deal.
Virginia Roberts, once introduced to the Duke of York during a trip to London with Epstein, claims the American billionaire began abusing her when she was 15.
The 35-year-old also alleges she was warned if she ever left Epstein she would have to sign over the baby to him and his then girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
Ghislaine – who has since split with Epstein – is the daughter of disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell.
Mrs Roberts – now Virginia Giuffre – said she was aged 18 or 19 when Epstein made his bizarre baby proposal, reports the Mirror.
The allegations were made in a lawsuit filed in Florida in 2009 but emerged after Epstein, 66, was charged with underage sex trafficking charges, which he denies, last month.
Giuffre told lawyers: “He came up with a proposition that I thought was disgustingly sick.
Jeffrey Epstein is a US financier who was convicted of soliciting an underage girl for prostitution in 2008.
He was arrested on July 6, 2019 for sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York.
Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019 on sex trafficking charges.
Court documents allege that at least 40 underage girls were brought to Epstein’s mansion for sexual encounters.
He was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.
FBI agents are also said to have broken down the door to his Manhattan townhouse.
He pleaded not guilty to child sex trafficking charges in New York and could face 45 years in prison if found guilty.
On July 18, a federal judge said that the disgraced financier presented a “danger to the community” and must stay in one of New York’s toughest prisons while he awaits a trial over the sex trafficking accusations.
The shamed financier was locked up amid fears he would flee the country.
“He offered me a mansion and money every month, a monthly allowance, (for me) to bear one of his children.
“The proposition was that if anything ever happened between Jeffrey and I, that I would have to sign my child over to him basically and that the child would be his and Ghislane’s and I would be looking after it as nothing happened between Jeffrey and I.”
Epstein’s offences are alleged to have been carried out during his friendship with the Prince, however there is absolutely no suggestion the royal was aware of any offences.
Earlier this month we reported how it was claimed Epstein wanted a baby-making factory to spread his DNA – and to have his penis frozen after his death.
He confided in scientists that he planned to impregnate dozens of women at his New Mexico ranch, it’s claimed.
He wanted up to 20 women to be pregnant with his children at a time – in a bizarre sci-fi-like plot to improve the human race with his genes, the New York Times said.
The allegations against him go back to the 2000s
2005 – Parents of a 14-year-old girl told police in Florida that Epstein had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home. A police search of the property found photos of girls throughout the house.
2006 – Charged with multiple counts of unlawful sexual acts with a minor.
2007 – Epstein’s lawyers put together a plea deal for Epstein, who was the 54.
He agreed to plead guilty to two felony prostitution charges in state court,
In exchange, he and his accomplices received immunity from federal sex-trafficking charges that could have sent him to prison for life.
2008 – Appears in court to plead guilty on two lesser counts and sentenced to a 18 months in jail and was released early in 2009
July 2019 – Arrested charges of child sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
Prosecutors accused him in a grand jury indictment of paying dozens of girls as young as 14 to engage in sex acts with him at his New York and Florida properties from 2002 to 2005.
Pleaded not guilty and could face up to 45 years in prison if convicted.
More than a dozen women have now come forward with more sex abuse allegations
Multiple sources told the paper that convicted paedophile Epstein – currently in jail facing child trafficking charges – would boast of his sick plans at champagne-fuelled parties.
The shamed financier apparently began sharing his vision for his 33,000sq ft Zorro Ranch near Santa Fe in the early 2000s.
He would allegedly tell scientists and businessmen he wanted the vast New Mexico property to be turned into his own personal baby-making factory.
