Virginia Giuffre: Prince Andrew accuser in spotlight after years of fighting to be heard

Judge’s ruling that lawsuit can proceed marks first-round victory for the woman who accuses the duke of sexual abuse

Virginia Giuffre was a teenager working as a locker-room assistant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2000 when she says she was approached by Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell asked her if she wanted to become a massage therapist.

Giuffre had been trying to get her life back on track, and this job was a key part of that plan. She has recounted how she had been sexually abused as a child, found herself moving in and out of foster care homes, and at 14 had been living on the streets suffering yet more abuse.