To be fair, Andrew could never have made those denials under oath because Virginia chose to settle out of court. I honestly fully believe he had sex with her (whether he knew she was trafficked or not is another matter) but legally, he’s never been found guilty because Virginia opted for a settlement instead of her day in court. It’s frustrating, but that’s how it works unfortunately.
Andrew has effectively been found guilty in the court of public opinion, which is why his titles were stripped. Public “pile-ons” can have an impact, for better or worse. But taken to an extreme, this also shows the danger: a man who hasn’t been legally convicted (remember, we are innocent until proven guilty) could potentially be hounded to death and there would be little public sympathy for him. Epstein is in a completely different category: he was a convicted pedophile and trafficker of multiple victims, so comparisons don’t really hold. Andrew, as far as we are aware, has had no other allegations of sex with trafficked or under aged victims made against him.
I see your point about Ant, but he was incredibly lucky no one was killed. Many forget there was a three year old in one of the cars during the crash he caused while under the influence. That said, he took responsibility and got help, which matters. But imagine being the parent of that child if the worst had happened, there’s no way to minimise that risk and I doubt there would have been as much sympathy for his mental health if he had caused life changing injuries or death to one of his victims.
As for Caroline Flack, I just can’t sympathise. Mental health struggles don’t excuse physically assaulting your partner (I talk from personal experience here). It’s sad that she felt there was no other option than to end her own life, but her actions had consequences and she couldn’t deal with those consequences of literally lamping her partner whilst he was asleep. At the end of the day, she was a domestic abuser, just as Andrew had sex with a trafficked girl and Ant drove drunk.
I do respect your opinion though, it’s actually refreshing to have a thoughtful discussion on here rather than the usual bun fight that break out on these types of threads.