Prince Andrew £12 million settlement in civil lawsuit raises eyebows

Prince Andrew 'conveniently' agreed to pay Ms Virginia Giuffre a startling amount of £12million after consistently denying raping her.

While Andrew got himself out of the bashful civil lawsuit filed by Giuffre, he is still in trouble with Britons, who want to know where the Duke raises hefty settlement amount from.

Fleet Street Fox for a column in the Mirror, writes: "If you or I had pulled £12million out of nowhere to pay someone who had accused us of sexual assault, the bizzies would be round our house quicker than you could say 'unexplained wealth order'"

The expert adds: "Their suspicions would be raised by the fact this figure represents 462 years' worth of the average UK salary, and that it is a large enough sum to call into question any protestations that we had never met the lady in question."

"Why have you given this woman so much money, which is 24 times the settlement she received from the actual convicted paedophile who groomed her?" the columnist questions the Duke of York.

Talking about Andrew's assets, the author reveals how the 12 million payout is almost unjustified.

"He has a naval pension of between £20,000 and £30,000 a year, which puts him in the same income bracket as the average UK citizen. He does not own his home, Royal Lodge in Windsor, but paid £1m for a 75-year lease on it. That amounts to £13,333 a year, or £256 a week rent. He doesn't own it, and can be evicted at any time," writes Fleet Street Fox.

Talking about how the payout is even greater than the divorce settlement made to ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, the columnist challenged the authenticity of the Duke's statement of never abusing Giuffre.

"The sudden appearance of that money has raised eyebrows, with talk of a bridging loan from Prince Charles - a bona fide billionaire - and £2m cash from the Queen, although neither of these are confirmed. Perhaps his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, might also wonder why the man who paid her £15,000 a year divorce settlement after 10 years of marriage and two children has given 800 times that to a woman he says he never met, and who alleged he had sex with her on 3 occasions," concludes the columnist.