Despite his villainous behaviour, anyone feel a teeny bit sorry for Andrew?

[busymomtoone]

Before I get totally flamed, I despise his attitude, and the things he appears to have done - particularly the subsequent lying and apparent determination to shield/ hide misdemeanours. However, seeing the photo of his release today looking a broken man after such huge public downfall , plus thinking of him going back to an empty house on his birthday with no family support - even though I initially felt he deserves every indignity and consequence - there’s still a teeny part of me that just can’t help feeling just a little bit sorry for him. If it’s true that he was taken to a brothel at age 11 , whilst it would in no way excuse abusing others , it means he has also been a victim of abuse. Additionally it seems the Queen and his entourage have never ever said no to him in his whole life- so to reach his 7th decade before any consequences hit makes me question how resilient he will be able to be. Obviously main sympathies are always rightly with any victims , but even the most hardened and perpetual criminals often retain family support, he seems to have nobody. ( albeit if his own making ) or am I just being too soft?!

Absolutely not. No. I have it on good authority that he was a pompous shit when he was younger and now he seems to be a sleazy money grubber as older. No sympsthy at sll. He got himself in this mess.

It is becoming clearer how Epstein, a former school teacher, made his cash. Basically finding rich perverts (rich people) and providing what they wanted then using them to get priviledged information that he used to give others an edge in making money and took a cut. His work on Wall Street revealed to him that most rich people have extreme sexual perversions and he saw an opportunity. It helped he shared them, of course. Most rich people born to money like A are pretty easy to manipulate if you find their perversion. Epstein was a kindered spirit but a bit sharper than the average perv.
In history, has a really powerful man ever not been revealed as a deviant at some stage. It's hard to think of examples.

So you're not upset powerful men traffic women because well. Men are incapable of not being sex trafficking perverts when given the opportunity?

Bit of a depressing view of men.

Even if you take that stance though why on earth does that make you feel sorry for him? Why wouldn't it make you think change is needed? Topple the house of cards built by wealthy perverts and wipe the skate clean?

To endorse the people who have acted like this is to support and perpetuate it. Why on earth do you think we should accept that?

Fergie is rotten to the core too. Don’t forget she was selling access to Prince Andrew for £500k a time when she got caught out.

Nope.

He thought he was above everyone and had/has shown disregard for anyone he's deemed to be beneath him. I think he really believed he was untouchable. The arrogance is astonishing.

He's reaping what he's sown. I just hope others face justice too.

I doubt this will ever come to trial because it would be impossible to swear in a jury as so much has been said, written, implied about these events that he would not get a fair trial.

I keep posting this as do others, because it’s not widely understood, due in large part to the media talking about differing age of consent in the world. It’s not about age of consent, it’s about being trafficked.

Trafficked people cannot consent to any sexual relations because they are not there of their own free will, having been taken there by AN Other for the purposes of providing sexual services. For example Virginia Guiffre did not initially arrange to meet Andrew herself nor arrange their further meetings. She was a slave essentially, with an owner (JE).

Therefore, the age of consent is totally irrelevant. VG could have been 37 years of age, or 23 or 50 etc, it’d still be rape, because she was trafficked and therefore could not ever consent.

We should not be minimising his behaviour by saying it was inappropriate. Misconduct in public office for a Royal (even if an ex) is serious. Remember the last Royal to be arrested by the State was Charles 1 and that led to a republic. Our current king is well educated in history and knows the potential implications of what is happening very well. The Monarchy is in self preservation mode and, as before in history, they will sacrifice whatever or whoever they need to, to survive.
In that context you can have some sympathy he is being the scapegoat and a product of his toxic environment, but he made the choices so he has to face the consequences.

@busymomtoone No I don’t feel sorry for him. I do feel sorry for you though. Your username indicates you have a child so I hope you do them a favour by raising your standards after reflecting on the replies here. Nobody needs to feel sorry for an abuser.

Haha, No!

You've well and truly missed the point.

These files have been around for years and the US government must have let the UK government know the extent of what was in them about him, Fergie, Mandelson and no doubt others. So why now. Why are they arresting him now when this information has been available for some time?

Will Mandelson be arrested? Or does he have dirt on the government to trade for immunity? He must be dancing a jig that the disgrace that is Andrew is taking the heat off him.

Fergie is just as bad. She took her daughters to mix with a convincted child abuser when she knew what he was. While flogging kids books and making appearances for kids charities. Andrew was patron of the NSPCC what a joke. Considering they had protection officers, why didnt the royal family or the met question what she was doing. Do they not do security checks? The amount of money she fleeced epstein for, i wonder if there isnt money laundering offences to be investigated. She needs to be in the cell next to him.

I would be very surprised if Andrew makes it to the end of the year. Hes an embarrassment that wont go away. They will be doing their best to push him to the brink until he takes his own life (or appears to do so). Id also not be surprised if this 'suicide' happens as another lot of files is released naming other important establishment figures to distract us away from the scandal. I think there is something going on behind the scenes for this to happen now instead of when this first came to light.

Also no mention of what happened to the police officer and royal staff who Andrew passed virginia giuffres personal info to, to dig for dirt on her. Did the officer report it? Did they follow his instructions? Have the people involved been questioned and action taken? If no one is above the law, which is right, then why in all this mess is only one animal in a cell. They should be packed to the rafters.

Take a good hard look at who you are as a human being along with the other 220 who feel empathy with this person. eta; according to your poll

That you are an apologist for his behaviour speaks volumes about your character and if you are a woman....christ!

I think there are plenty of people above the law. The line to be above used to include any dumb ex Prince, but aparantly thats been reclassified to not be above anymore. How far it lowers to include those traditionally above but suddenly not now above will probably depend on how threatened those who set the line feel.

It might have something to so with the queen being dead..Maybe people just didnt dare while she was alive.

Oh and no i dont feel sorry for him one bit.

He went on news night. Voluntarily. Lied through his teeth badly. When he wasnt lying he was showing us who he is. No regretting knowing Epstein due to contacts and information gained. Called Epsteins behaviour 'conduct unbecoming'. Hes a child abuser. Wtf. Said he's at fault for being too honourable. What an arsehole. He knew the extent of what was going on. He was happy for epstein to keep paying off his ex wife, funding him and involving him in Epsteins activities. Thought he was untouchable. He was so confident that he was safe he lied about no contact with epstein thinking the paper trail wouldnt surface. Im glad hes been set right with his time in a cell.

Like i said he was patron of the nspcc. He knew these girls were trafficked. Underage or just over. Younger than his daughters yet thats attractive to him. There is so much more to this. Id put money on evidence surfacing soon that he done something to make this look minor. No doubt released at the same time charles and camilla are on the state visit to the US. This shit show has just started.

Could we please reserve the use of the word ‘witch-hunt’ for the original ‘witches’ - women who were hunted down and killed for perceived wrong doing; as opposed to men actually committing unspeakable harm against women and potentially minors.

FFS.

I dont feel any empathy to him. I have saved the BBC interview. Watching it again as things evolve he was given at least 3 very explicit chances to show some empathy to victims. At no time would this have implied any guilt. Just shown some empathy. He just ignored the prompt or brought it back to him. It is quite shocking his complete self interest, looking back now.

Yes i also knew someone who knew him and they said he was a prick too. He was apparently always bringing the queen up in conversations just to remind everyone constantly of who he was.

I don't feel sorry for him, but I am gobsmacked about his downfall. Still processing it.

It has all the hallmarks of a Greek tragedy - the man who had everything he could wish for and just threw it all away.

I agree. Sometimes we forget he is the brother of the King and how significant this is in history.

Not one little bit. Sorry for his victims and if he's passed on confidential information of a highly sensitive nature he deserves to be charged and prosecuted.

Absolutely not … it’s been a long time coming .. Arrogant , vile man

He used his celebrity and status to abuse women with impunity. Now that celebrity has come back to bite him in the arse. Fuck him.

Truly, no, not even the tiniest flimsiest sliver of sympathy. The fucker brought it solely upon himself. I don’t even care if the so-called rumours were true and he was taken to a brothel at 11, by the time he was a young adult he should have been able develop an awareness of the wrongness of this.

I know a number of people who have been sexually abused far more egregiously than this and not one of them has turned it into an excuse for behaving like a monster themselves.