Ghislaine Maxwell 'was on IRA hitlist during childhood of neglect and abuse'

The socialite’s defense team seek a reduced sentence by depicting a woman made vulnerable to Epstein by a domineering father

Ghislaine Maxwell with the Duke of York leaves the wedding of a former girlfriend of the Duke, Aurelia Cecil, at the Parish Church of St Michael in Compton Chamberlayne near Salisbury with . Ms Cecil married Rupert Stephenson and she is daughter of the Earl of Cranborn.

When Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial neared its end, the British socialite’s lawyers had their work cut out for them. For weeks, prosecutors had painted Maxwell as a member of the elite who carried out unspeakable acts to maintain her charmed life with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

They presented abundant evidence that Maxwell lured girls, some just 14 years old, into Epstein’s orbit for him to sexually abuse – while carrying herself as an untouchable “lady of the house”. In the prosecution’s telling, Maxwell didn’t just do bad things: she was gleefully committed to doing them.