'Sex slave' claims: Hawking was guest of Epstein

Professor Stephen Hawking. Photo / AP

Sex offender Jeffrey Epstein hosted Professor Stephen Hawking on the private Caribbean island where Prince Andrew is alleged to have slept with an underage "sex slave".

The celebrated physicist attended a conference on the Caribbean island of St Thomas as part of an event sponsored by shamed Epstein, who describes himself on his blog as a "science philanthropist".

The Nobel prizewinner was reportedly one of several eminent scientists invited to the event, which included trips to the sex offender's private island retreat nearby.

A picture of Hawking, purportedly taken during the conference, is featured on the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation blog in a posting topped with the dateline March 21, 2012.

But it is not yet clear when the conference - called "The Energy of Empty Space That Isn't Zero" - took place or how long it lasted.

The blog states that guests "could meet, discuss, relax on the beach, and take a trip to the nearby private island retreat of the science philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein, who funded the event".

Hawking's representatives have yet to respond to requests for a comment.

Epstein's island of Little St James lies a short distance from St Thomas - part of the US Virgin Islands.

It is the same place where Virginia Roberts claims her third and final sexual encounter with Prince Andrew took place. She says she was 17 when the offences took place.

Andrew, the Duke of York, has faced mounting controversy after he was named in United States civil court documents as having had sex with Roberts on three separate occasions - claims vehemently denied by the Duke.

In the US court papers, Roberts alleges that between 1999 and 2002 she "was forced to have sexual relations with this Prince" in London, New York and on the private Caribbean island owned by Epstein.

Under the law of Florida, where the papers were filed, a minor is defined as a person aged under 18.

The accusation is contained in a motion filed last month in a Florida court by Roberts who wants to join an existing lawsuit, launched by two other alleged Epstein victims, against federal prosecutors' handling of the financier's case.

- Daily Mail