The King has been heckled over his brother Prince Andrew’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a visit to a cathedral.

The monarch was shouted at by a man in the crowd outside Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire, who asked: “How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?”

The protester, who was filming on a mobile phone, also said: “Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew? Should MPs be allowed to debate the royals in the House of Commons?”

The King did not respond to the comments.

The crowd appeared to turn on the person shouting at the monarch, with one telling him to “shut up”.

Graham Smith, chief executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, said he believed the heckler was “one of our own members but doing their own thing”.

He said: “The royals need to be challenged, and if the politicians won’t do the job and the police won’t investigate, then more and more members of the public will be asking tough questions.

“We want to see broadcasters invite Charles into a studio and ask him the same questions.”

Andrew under increasing pressure

Pressure has been rapidly increasing on the King’s sibling, who announced earlier this month he would stop using his Duke of York title and his knighthood, after revelations in the posthumous memoir of his sex assault accuser, Virginia Giuffre.

The prince has always strenuously denied all allegations against him from Ms Giuffre.

Reports also emerged that claimed Prince Andrew asked a royal close protection officer to “dig up dirt” on the late Ms Giuffre.

As a result of these new allegations, the Metropolitan Police said it is “actively looking into the claims”.

Calls to revoke dukedom

There are growing calls for his dukedom to be formally revoked, which can only be done by an act of parliament, and for him to give up his 30-room Royal Lodge home in Windsor Great Park after it emerged he paid a peppercorn (nominal) rent for more than 20 years.

Andrew has been hit with criticism focused on the property he has lived in effectively rent-free since 2003.

Obstacles to a settlement are reportedly where Andrew, who is eighth in line to the throne, will live and what financial recompense he will receive for the funds he spent renovating the home.

After the visit to the cathedral, the King laid flowers at the UK’s first national memorial commemorating LGBT armed forces.

He was joined by dozens of serving and former members of the armed forces, as he met veterans who told of the trauma inflicted by the military’s former “gay ban”.

The memorial, titled An Opened Letter, was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum.

The alleged stalker of Madeleine McCann’s family had a “genuine belief” she was the missing girl, a court heard.

Julia Wandelt, 24, from Lubin, south-west Poland, denied claiming to be Madeleine for attention or financial gain on Monday.

She told the trial that she is still questioning her identity now.

Wandelt says she “could only remember abuse” after experiences with her step-grandfather, adding she “could not be able to heal from my trauma if I never fully know who I am”.

Prosecutors accuse Wandelt of peddling the myth she was Madeleine, who went missing aged three on holiday in Portugal, in 2007, by sending emails, making phone calls and turning up at the address of parents Kate and Gerry McCann.

Madeleine McCann trial latest

She says she self-harmed and attempted to take her own life after she was abused by the step-grandfather.

Wandelt told the court her father told her, in 2022, that the man who abused her had “been involved in kidnapping”, so she searched databases for missing people.

After being asked if anyone matched her, she replied: “There were not actually a lot of people my age or around my age, but that is how I found Madeleine.”

Asked about her motivation, she added: “I just wanted to find out who I am. I could not be able to heal from my trauma if I never fully know who I am, what happened to me and if my parents are my parents.”

‘I think I could be Maddie’

Tom Price KC, for the defence, said the defendant had a “genuine and honestly held belief she is Madeleine McCann”.

The court heard she emailed the parents of the missing girl, on 24 June, 2022, a message that read: “Hello I’m writing you because I think I could be Madeleine McCann, the reason why I think I could be Maddie.

“One, I saw the pictures when I was younger, I had the mark on my eye, it’s a little faded now.”

She then goes on to give a number of reasons as to why she believes she may be the missing girl.

This includes that her “documents” might be faked and she may be younger, that her parents would not show her her birth certificate and that she lacks memories before she was nine.

She added that a talk with a psychologist made her question her life.

‘I realised I only remember abuse’

Wandelt told jurors, “she made me reflect on my life more and think about everything that happened. I realised I only remember abuse. My friends, they could remember things”.

She continued: “I started with asking questions because I just could not believe there was nothing else in the story of what happened to me.

“I started asking my parents about everything. What are your blood groups? Is there anything else happened to me you don’t tell me about?”

Asked if she still questions her identity, she replied: “Yes, I do.”

‘I didn’t expect them to refuse’

She claims her parents, who she alleges refused a DNA test, had a different appearance from her, with dark hair and eyes.

Wandelt said: “It made me feel a bit surprised because I didn’t expect them to refuse, especially because at that time I still dealt with a lot of emotional problems.”

Wandelt and her co-defendant, Karen Spragg, 61, of Caerau, Cardiff, both deny one count of stalking between June 2022 and February this year.

The trial continues.

Members of a Romanian grooming gang have been jailed for raping and sexually exploiting 10 vulnerable women in Dundee.

Four men and one woman were found guilty in January of dozens of offences – including rape – following an investigation into sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and the supply of drugs in the Tayside area.

The gang plied their victims with drugs, including crack cocaine, at various properties between June 2021 and September 2022.

Some of those that were preyed upon became addicted to the illicit substances, leading them to be blackmailed into sex.

Mircea Marian Cumpanasoiu, 38, Remus Stan, 35, Catalin Dobre, 45, Cristian Urlateanu, 41, and Alexandra Bugonea, 35, denied any wrongdoing but were convicted following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

Judge Lord Scott said much of the gang “deflected, minimised, denied and lied” about their offending.

He told them: “It may be that you thought that no one cared for your victims, meaning you could do whatever you wanted to them without consequence. If so, events have proved you wrong.

“Each of the women who gave evidence against you found the strength to do so despite their difficulties.”

The judge said the women had taken “significant steps” to move on from that stage in their lives.

He added: “I commend them for having taken back control of their lives to the extent that they’ve been able to do that and for being able to testify about the abuse they suffered at your hands.”

Returning to the dock on Monday, ringleader Cumpanasoiu was handed a 24-year extended sentence, with 20 years in jail and four years on licence once released back into the community.

Stan was sentenced to 12 years in jail; Dobre was sentenced to 10 years in jail; Urlateanu was handed a 20-year extended sentence, with 18 years in jail and two years on licence; and Bugonea was sentenced to eight years in jail.

Lord Scott told the gang it would be a matter for the Home Office, but it was likely they would be deported on the completion of their sentences.

‘The criminals were prowling the streets of Dundee’

Speaking to Sky News, the boss of a charity that aims to tackle modern slavery said the case was “particularly shocking” as the victims were “handpicked because of their vulnerabilities”.

James Clarry, chief executive of Justice and Care, added: “The criminals were prowling the streets of Dundee looking for women who matched the conditions that they knew would make them particularly vulnerable, and then off the back of that, exploited them sexually on a sustained and brutal basis.”

Detective Inspector Scott Carswell called the offenders “deplorable”.

He told Sky News the gang supplied the women with alcohol and free Class A drugs at parties, before coercing them into sexual activity, “which a lot of them didn’t want to do”.

“They were so addicted to the drugs that they knew the only way they could get the drugs was to perform the sexual acts that they were having to get involved in,” he said.

DI Carswell said the gang got the women addicted in a bid to control them and keep them coming back for more.

He added: “They’ve had no thought as to the impact this is having on the victims. It’s been quite controlled in that they knew what they were doing.”

Police Scotland said the offenders were arrested and charged as part of Operation Recloir, launched in late 2021 to target a gang of suspected human traffickers in the Tayside area.

Officers uncovered evidence of serious sexual offending, prostitution, drugs supply and trafficking during their enquiries.

‘Groomed and used’

DI Carswell said the inquiry initially focused on brothel-keeping in Dundee and the suspected trafficking of Romanian women into the country.

“However, into the summer of 2022 we started to receive information that the crime group were targeting vulnerable Dundee females,” he added.

“And it looked like they were grooming them and coercing them with gifts of free drugs and other things until it moved on to the victims having to get involved in sexual activity to get the free drugs.

“Unfortunately, this got them addicted to the Class A drugs that had been provided.”

DI Carswell said many of the victims believed they were the girlfriends of the men involved and did not realise they were being “groomed and used”.

He said the women were looking to be “cared for”, noting: “I believe that the end goal here was to groom the females and possibly move them into prostitution.”

Following the arrest of suspects Cumpanasoiu and Stan, their co-accused Urlateanu and Bugonea were located in Belgium and extradited.

Dobre was traced in the Czech Republic and brought back to Scotland for the trial, which lasted six weeks.

‘Smirking, winking pimp’

The offences took place at various locations in Dundee, including properties on Bright Street, Gellatly Street and Perth Road.

Cumpanasoiu, also known as “Mario”, was described in court as a “smirking, winking pimp” who funded his lifestyle and drug habit from prostitution.

He was found guilty of 15 charges, including running brothels and 10 counts of rape.

In addition, he also supplied drugs to multiple women and was involved in sexual coercion.

The court heard how Cumpanasoiu trafficked one vulnerable woman into prostitution by convincing her she stood to make large sums of money.

The brothel-keeper then advertised her services online and drove her to meet clients before taking a portion of her earnings.

Cumpanasoiu earlier pleaded guilty to a further three charges – attempting to pervert the course of justice, knowingly living off the earnings of prostitution and possession of a knife.

Urlateanu was found guilty of nine charges, including rape, assault, living off the earnings of prostitution and the supply of cocaine.

At the time of the offending, he lived with his partner and co-accused Bugonea, who was working as a sex worker.

The court heard how he used the money given to him by Bugonea to fund his crack cocaine habit and pay household bills.

One victim told the trial how she was lured to a flat in Bright Street where she described there being an unlimited supply of crack cocaine and whisky.

Games such as spin the bottle and truth or dare were often played, where clothing was removed while Urlateanu asked questions of a sexual nature.

He went on to forcibly rape the woman in a bedroom.

Urlateanu and Bugonea were also both found guilty of raping the same woman together on various occasions at the flat.

Stan was found guilty of eight charges, including trafficking a woman into prostitution with his co-accused Cumpanasoiu.

The predator supplied the victim with drugs and decided what prices she should charge clients all while making her think he was her boyfriend.

He was convicted of raping the woman on several occasions, including one incident where he attacked her alongside Cumpanasoiu.

Stan was additionally found guilty of raping a further two women.

Dobre, also known as “Luigi”, was found guilty of five charges, including the gang rape of one woman alongside Urlateanu and Stan.

He was further convicted of attempted rape, sexual coercion and sexual assault.

Bugonea, was convicted of five charges. This included providing drugs to multiple women, sexual coercion, rape and sexual assault by penetration.

In addition to the jail sentences, the gang were also placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

Stan was separately handed a five-year Trafficking and Exploitation Prevention Order (TEPO).

Fiona Kirkby, procurator fiscal for high court sexual offences, said: “This gang ruthlessly exploited vulnerable women for their own gain, without any regard for the suffering and trauma they caused.

“Urlateanu, Bugonea and Dobre’s attempts to escape justice by fleeing abroad failed when police found and returned them to Scotland to await trial.”

Ms Kirby branded the crimes “reprehensible” as she praised the courage of the victims in speaking out.

She added: “Thanks to their bravery, and the support given to them by charity organisations and justice partners, this prosecution was made possible, ensuring other women and girls are protected from these offenders.”