PRINCE Andrew would face possible arrest if he flies to America to help police investigating the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, a leading Scottish barrister has warned.

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC said the Prince's advisors would be unwise to listen to those who suggested he should volunteer to go and speak to the FBI.

Since Prince Andrew gave an interview to the BBC's Newsnight – which has widely been described as a 'car-crash' in PR terms – it has been suggested that he might offer to cooperate with the investigating authorities.

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The Herald:

The Prince has been criticised for his attempts to justify his friendship with the late US billionaire child abuser, and for the tenor of the interview in which he expressed little empathy with Epstein's victims.

However, speaking to the BBC, Baroness Kennedy said that if the Prince were her client she would absolutely advise against him going to America to assist the FBI investigation into the financier's crimes.

"I wouldn't be wanting to send him there because I would be very concerned that suddenly he might be arrested and not able to leave the US," she said. "I would be very anxious about that."

She added that she would tell the Prince: "If the FBI want to see you they can come and interview you here, in the ways that we have of mutual assistance."

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Baroness Kennedy ­– a prominent human and civil rights lawyer – said she would never have allowed her client to agree to face the cameras in the way Prince Andrew did, either. "If I was his lawyer I would absolutely have advised against him taking part in this interview. I would have got a very clear sense that he wasn't going to be able to handle it very well," she said.

Describing the Prince's answers to questions posed by interviewer Emily Maitlis as "a shocking performance" and "ill-considered" she said the prince had failed to appreciate the abhorrence felt by the general public about Epstein's offences.

Talking about the abuse and exploitation of girls who were 'passed around' by his friend as conduct which was unbecoming was "very weak language" she said.

Ms Kennedy's comments came as charities of which the prince is patron and businesses connected to his Pitch@palace initiative moved to distance themselves from him.

She added: "I can understand people saying 'our charity is not going to be well served by having someone who is out of touch with the way in which life is lived'." However, she warned against 'trial by media', saying: "I believe in due process, the legal system has to get things right."