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New court documents have revealed how prosecutors protected friends of Prince Andrew's paedophile's pal to avoid them being brought to court over child sex abuse charges.

Investigators suspected billionaire Jeffrey Epstein abused 34 underage girls but lawyers failed to charge him or any of his "co-conspirators" and instead offered him a secret plea bargain.

In court papers that were previously sealed it has been revealed how prosecutors said they would keep from the judge Epstein's friends who have been accused of being involved in the abuse.

The documents were released as part of the ongoing civil case brought by two alleged victims of Epstein against US federal prosecutors' handling of the financier's conviction.

Lawyers for the women claim the plea deal granting Epstein and any potential co-conspirators immunity from further prosecution violated their clients' rights.

(Image: Getty)

In September 2007, Assistant US Attorney Marie Villafana sent an email to Epstein's lawyer Jay Lefkowitz suggesting prosecutors attempted to keep information about his alleged crimes from judges.

It read: "I will include our standard language regarding resolving all criminal liability and I will mention 'co-conspirators', but I would prefer not to highlight for the judge all of the other crimes and all of the other persons that we could charge."

The new paperwork fuels suspicions Epstein's legal team and US prosecutors colluded to ensure the powerful billionaire did not face the most serious charges.

In another email Villafana tells Lefkowitz: "I wanted to tell you that I have compiled a list of 34 confirmed minors.

"There are six others, whose name we already have, who need to be interviewed by the FBI to confirm whether they were 17 or 18 at the time of their activity with Mr. Epstein."

Epstein later pleaded guilty to two state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution and soliciting prostitution, serving 13 months after being sentenced in 2008.

Also within the newly released cache Epstein's lawyers demanded letters to victims informing them their cases were not being pursued were not issued.

Earlier this year one of Epstein's alleged victims accused Prince Andrew and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of being involved in the abuse.

(Image: Rex Features)

Virginia Roberts, who claimed she was the American's sex slave, claimed in courts papers the Duke of York had sex with her in London, New York and on Epstein's private Caribbean island when she was 17 years of age.

The claims were vehemently denied by Buckingham Palace and were removed from US civil court records following a federal judge's ruling in April.

Court papers lodged in Florida accused Andrew of abusing Miss Roberts when she was 17.

Her accusations were part of submissions made by lawyers acting for the now 31-year-old who wanted to join the existing civil lawsuit launched by the two other women.

US District Judge Kenneth Marra refused Roberts permission to join the claim, and said in his written judgement the sex abuse details had no bearing on the lawsuit's goal of reopening the Epstein non-prosecution agreement.

Prince Andrew, 55, caused huge embarrassment for the Royal family after he was pictured in New York's Central Park with Epstein following the paedophile's release from prison.