An anti-monarchy group has said it has instructed lawyers who will seek to gather testimony from Jeffrey Epstein survivors ahead of a possible private prosecution of Prince Andrew.

Republic wants to establish if there are legal grounds to pursue the former Duke of York over allegations of sexual offences, corruption and misconduct in public office. 

The group said that the lawyers will begin ‘actively investigating’, with a view to ‘beginning proceedings in the coming weeks.’

Claims that Andrew passed sex trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre’s date of birth and social security number to his taxpayer-funded bodyguard in 2011 in order to obtain information about her are being looked into by the Metropolitan Police.

The Met has previously said that it has carried out a review of sexual abuse allegations against the royal and the late paedophile Epstein and no further action will be taken.

Andrew, 65, has repeatedly and strenuously denied any impropriety in relation to Ms Giuffre.

However, the group has called for investigations to take place into Andrew’s conduct, and has launched a crowdfunder for what it called an ‘unprecedented step’.

Chief executive Graham Smith told Metro: ‘The police are not pursing this, they’re saying they’re looking into it, which is not the same as a criminal investigation. As far as we’re aware there’s no evidence they’ve interviewed Andrew as a witness or suspect under caution and the debate over the past two weeks has been absolutely abysmal.

‘There are serious accusations against him and it’s been about should he live in this big house or that big house, or have this title or that title.

‘For justice to be done we need to concentrate on the victims, the whole debate needs to be shifted to a different place.’

Mr Smith indicated that the survivors of the Epstein scandal will be among the people that the legal team will seek to gather evidence from.

‘We hope that we can take this to a prosecution, obviously the evidence bar for criminal prosecution is higher than it is for civil prosecutions,’ he said.

‘We can’t just point to news articles and books, we have lawyers on the case who will investigate and talk to witnesses and so on, and if we can past that first hurdle of getting to the magistrates and getting permission to pursue it then we will want to pursue it all the way.’

Asked by Metro if the legal team would speak to witnesses directly — such as the survivors of Epstein’s sex trafficking ring — Mr Smith replied: ‘Indeed, we would need to. It’s not a civil case so we don’t need to be an injured party, anyone can bring a private prosecution if they think someone’s done something wrong and they’ve not been prosecuted.

‘Obviously, part of the reason for doing this is to get justice for those who have alleged serious offences and to make sure that the law is applied equally to royals and to the rest of us. In a Savanata Poll most people said they are not treated equally, which is pretty shocking.

‘It’s true, but it’s pretty shocking that this is the state of affairs.’

Information in the Epstein files which have not been released would also be pertinent to building any case against the prince.

‘We do think that there’s information which can be released which haven’t been,’ Mr Smith said. ‘If we do get to the point where we would be allowed to pursue it, we would have the role to prosecute that the state would otherwise and we can start to request witnessess, documents and evidence through the court system.

‘What may well happen is that the CPS may take it off us and turn it into another prosecution, which is fine by us, because I think that needs to happen. If it doesn’t happen we’ll continue with it until we’ll get it through.’

Speaking to Sky, Mr Smith referenced allegations by the author Andrew Lownie in his book about Prince Andrew, which include misconduct in public office, and the separate claim of trying to corrupt a police officer to ‘besmirch the name of Virgina Giuffre.’

‘We don’t believe there’s been a sufficient investigation and we don’t believe there’s a willingness on the part of the authorities to do this,’ he said. ‘Really, this should be done by the police and CPS.’

The prince relinquished his titles on October 17 ahead of the release of Giuffre’s posthumous memoir and amid the ongoing spotlight on his former association with Epstein.

Mr Smith told the broadcaster he was prepared to abide by the lawyers’ findings based on the available evidence.

‘If it all shakes out that Andrew’s done nothing wrong then that would be an interesting result and good luck to Andrew and he can return to being a fully paid up member of the Royal Family,’ he said. ‘But clearly, that is not the view of most people and that is based on quite substantial testimony, other evidence and commentary over the last 15 years.’

Launching the crowdfunding appeal, Republic said a private prosecution can cost ‘anything from £15,000 to £150,000 or more’, and stated: ‘Lawyers will be actively investigating the case against Andrew with a view to beginning proceedings in the coming weeks.’

The move comes after a campaigner believed to be a member of the group heckled King Charles as the monarch visited Lichfield Cathedral on Monday. The man shouted: ‘How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?’ A woman turned around and told him to ‘shut up.’

Dr Caleb Wheeler, senior lecturer in law, Cardiff University, was sceptical that the campaigners will succeed in bringing a prosecution.

He told Metro: ‘It’s doubtful that a private prosecution against Prince Andrew will be very successful.

‘The crimes alleged by Republic, sexual assault, corruption, and misconduct in public office, simply can’t be proved in court based on the known facts. This looks like more of an effort to put additional pressure on Parliament and the Crown to take further action against Prince Andrew than a viable legal proceeding.

Metro has approached the Duke of York’s representatives for comment.