Virginia Giuffre's sad fears after 'split' from husband who rescued her from Epstein's clutches

The photo of Virginia Giuffre that most people remember is that of her as a teenager, with 's arm around her waist. The picture came to symbolise her case against the prince, and her plight as the highest-profile sex trafficking survivor of , which has brought huge sympathy around the .

Virginia was sex trafficked by billionaire paedophile , with his associate Ghislaine Maxwell recruiting her when she was a 16-year-old locker room attendant working at 's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. She claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on at least three occasions when she was 17, including while at Maxwell's infamous London townhouse.

Prince Andrew has always vehemently denied the allegations. In 2022, the Duke reached an out-of-court settlement in New York with Virginia, worth a reported £ 12 million, after she sued for sexual abuse. This agreement did not admit liability. However, Prince Andrew did agree to pay an unspecified sum to Virginia and her survivors' rights charity, Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (SOAR).

Another photo Virginia posted on Sunday, showing her lying on a hospital bed covered in bruises, along with her statement that she had "four days to live" caused the same amount of shock. It wasn't long, though, until questions began to be raised. Police said there had been only a "minor crash" with no reports of serious injuries, while sources close to Virginia said her post had been a "mistake".

READ MORE:

The troubling selfie - which Virginia later said she didn't mean to be a public post - may have been a cry for help. The sex abuse survivor reportedly recently split from her husband of two decades, Robert Giuffre, and became estranged from their three teenage children - two sons and a daughter. Until recently the family had been living an idyllic and quiet life in a £1millions seaside six-bedroomed home in Ocean Reef, Perth. She was reportedly paid more than £12million by Prince Andrew to settled her case out of court.

It was through her husband that Virginia finally escaped paedophile Epstein after years of abuse. In 2002 aged 19, as part of her escape plan, she asked the billionaire to pay her training as a message therapist and he agreed, flying her to an international training school in Thailand - but only on the condition that she would meet a young Thai girl there and bring her back to the US. There she met Robert, an Australian martial arts trainer, and the pair married after ten days. She later credit having with having "rescued me from Epstein and Maxwell's clutches".

When she called Epstein to tell him she would not be returning as agreed or bring the young girl back for him, he replied "have a nice life" and hung up the phone. The newly-married couple returned to live a new life in , and Virginia tried to forget her ordeal, until 2007 when the FBI contacted her as part of their investigation into the American financier.

She initially refused to cooperate, later saying she was "scared to death. I just didn't want my family harmed". It was after the birth of her third child in 2010 that she took the brave step of coming forward publcially and speaking about her experiences of sexual abuse and trafficking, and campaigning for other victims.

Supported at all times by her husband, she described allegedly being trafficked to Prince Andrew at least three times when she was 17 in bombshell allegations which made headlines around the world. Her testimony also led to the conviction of Gislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2022 for recruiting and trafficking underaged girls for the disgraced billionaire.

However in recent months Virginia's close bond with the family who supported and protected for so many years appears to have broken down. After her alleged split with Robert it is said that she has been unable to see her children, who were placed with him. It was also revealed this week that a restraining order had been placed on Virginia, which she had then allegedly broken and was charged by police on March 14 - 10 days before the crash on March 24. Virginia had entered no plea in a court appearance and was next due to appear in front of a magistrate on April 9.

And in the weeks before her crash, she appeared to be struggling to cope without her children. In a post on March 22, she wrote: "My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them and they're being poisoned with lies. I miss them so very much. I have been through hell & back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else. Hurt me, abuse me but don't take my babies. My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepens."

Her father Sky Roberts also told how Virgina had been "very depressed" recently, adding that he was "hoping she can hang on" amid her family life struggles and that her younger brother is "trying to get her spirits up". He told the Daily Mail she is "in really bad shape. I feel like crying. I love my daughter more than life.'