Lawyers representing the woman who claims she had under-age sex with the Duke of York have launched a defamation lawsuit against one of her alleged abusers after he branded them "villains".
Bradley J Edwards and Paul G Cassell began their legal action after Alan Dershowitz said in an interview with CNN they were the "villains" in the case and had failed to adequately investigate their client's allegations against him.
The lawyers have said their reputations have been defamed by such comments and are seeking an unspecified amount of damages.
Prince Andrew has faced mounting controversy after he was named in US civil court documents as having sex with a woman, identified in reports as Virginia Roberts, on three separate occasions when she was a minor.
She is said to have been "procured" for him by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire American financier, who she accuses of using her as a "sex slave".
Andrew vehemently denies the allegations against him.
The Duke's niece Zara Phillips was questioned about how her uncle was coping during a working visit to Australia's Gold Coast but told reporters: "I'm not going to answer that".
Mr Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and a former member of OJ Simpson's legal team, is accused of having sex with Ms Roberts on numerous occasions when she was a minor.
In response he has filed a detailed rebuttal of the woman's claims to the court.
The court document says the lawyer has multiple witnesses to refute the allegations and when interviewed yesterday by the US television morning show Today said: "I welcome a full investigation. I'm not trying to silence her. I've challenged her to repeat the statement to the press so that I can sue for defamation."
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