Prince Andrew's ex Lady Victoria Hervey was seeking 'dirt' on Virginia Giuffre

Socialite Lady Victoria Hervey was seeking ‘dirt’ on Prince Andrew’s sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre just days before they settled their bitter civil case, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Lady Victoria’s Twitter account was used on February 9 to send a message to Kirby Sommers, an author of books about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Asking about Ms Giuffre and Maria Farmer, who made the first complaint about Epstein, in 1996, it read: ‘Hey wondering if you have any diet [sic] for me on Maria or Virginia. Virginia has been silencing some real survivors that I have been in contact with… Any help would be appreciated.’

But Ms Sommers responded angrily: ‘Don’t think for one second that I am going to rescue the fat, disgusting pig… Prince Andrew.’

Last night, Lady Victoria, 45, who briefly dated Andrew in the 1990s, claimed she had told her intern to send the message in the mistaken belief that Ms Sommers was ‘not exactly pro-Virginia’.

She told The Mail on Sunday last night: ‘Mistook her [Ms Sommers] for someone else. I never use Twitter. Had an intern do it, hence all the typos. I don’t write like that.’

Her Twitter account was deleted shortly after the MoS got in touch.