Prince Andrew will not face court action in the US over claims he had sex with an under-age girl , after a Florida judge ruled her claims must be struck out . Virginia Roberts had hoped to join a lawsuit involving Andrew ’ s friend Jeffrey Epstein , a convicted paedophile and sex offender . But last night Judge Kenneth Marra ordered her claims that she was a ‘ sex slave ’ to Epstein and was forced to have sex with the Duke of York three times should be ‘ struck from the record ’ . Scroll down for video . Virginia Roberts photographed with Prince Andrew in early 2001 . Her claims she was forced to sleep with him have now been struck from the court record . Prince Andrew pictured leaving an Easter service at Windsor Castle on Sunday . The judge ruled the details of the accusations against him had no bearing on the reopening of the lawsuit against Epstein . The judge refused to make a statement regarding the veracity of Miss Roberts ’ s allegations , but issued an order that the ‘ lurid ’ and ‘ unnecessary ’ claims should not be involved in the Epstein case . ‘ At this juncture in the proceedings , these lurid details are unnecessary , ’ he wrote . ‘ These unnecessary details shall be stricken. ’ Prince Andrew is not mentioned by name in the ten-page ruling , made in the Palm Beach County court , Florida . But Judge Marra refers to the powerful people Miss Roberts was allegedly forced to have sex with by Epstein . Her claims of taking part in an orgy with the Duke and sleeping with him on two other occasions when she was 17 – below the age of consent in Florida – were described as ‘ immaterial and impertinent ’ . In 17 words , the judge may have drawn a line under a controversy that has dogged Prince Andrew since January . Miss Roberts , referred to as ‘ Jane Doe 3 ’ in court papers , and another woman were hoping to join two other alleged victims of Epstein in suing the U.S. government over a plea deal prosecutors struck with the financier . Jeffrey Epstein allegedly kept Virginia Roberts as a 'sex slave ' But Judge Marra ruled yesterday that the Jane Doe 3 and 4 applications should be denied and it was therefore ‘ unnecessary ’ for them to be added as plaintiffs . When the court claim surfaced earlier this year , Prince Andrew and Buckingham Palace refused to go into any details regarding the accusations . However , in late January he briefly referred to the allegations at the World Economic Forum in Davos , Switzerland , saying he wanted to ‘ reiterate and reaffirm ’ palace statements that insisted he never had any sexual contact or relationship with Miss Roberts . She has repeatedly claimed she had sex three times with Andrew when she was 17 – a claim he emphatically denies – and served papers on him via the British Embassy in Washington DC . But they were returned to sender . Her legal team ’ s bid to serve papers on the Duke came after courier FedEx returned a similar letter as it was ‘ refused ’ by the recipient at Buckingham Palace . The court papers lodged in Florida accused Andrew of abusing Miss Roberts when she was 17 . She claimed that under the orders of paedophile Epstein she was ‘ forced ’ to have sex with the prince three times in 2001 – in London , New York and on Epstein ’ s Caribbean island . The 55-year-old royal was so concerned about the allegations that he consulted top criminal QC William Clegg . Andrew ’ s long friendship with Epstein was said to include lavish parties and exotic holidays , but it raised questions over the prince ’ s choice of friends . He was introduced to the billionaire by Ghislaine Maxwell , daughter of disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell . The fifth in line to the throne was forced to effectively cool , but not end , the friendship when sex claims were made against the financier . In June 2008 , Epstein began serving 13 months of an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty to soliciting a girl , 14 , for prostitution . Andrew was summoned by the Queen after pictures emerged of him in New York with Epstein in February 2011 , after the financier had been released from prison . It emerged Epstein had given Andrew ’ s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson £15,000 to help reduce her debts . Last night Buckingham Palace declined to comment . The Duke was not a party to the court action and was not given the opportunity to rebut the allegations through the court . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article .
Allegations a 17-year-old was forced to sleep with Prince Andrew erased . Virginia Roberts had attempted to join lawsuit against the U.S. government . The women were trying to reopen a federal non-prosecution agreement . A judge today struck her and a second woman 's claims from court records . He said the details had no bearing on the attempt to reopen prosecution .