Director Woody Allen says Jeffrey Epstein “couldn’t have been nicer” during dinners at the home of the paedophile financier.

Allen said he first met Epstein when he was among the guests at a dinner in December 2010.

Also there was Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.

Allen, 89, told The Sunday Times a publicist invited him and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, to the dinner with “one of those British royals” and other guests.

Epstein had just finished a prison term for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution.

Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn dined regularly at Epstein’s home.  Photo: AAP

“We didn’t know Jeffrey at all then, but we see all these people there and they all embraced him, so we figured, ‘OK, he’s a substantial character’,” Allen said.

“He told us he’d been in jail and that he had been … falsely put in jail in some way.

“He told us he was trying to make up for it now by being philanthropic and giving money to cutting-edge scientists and universities. He couldn’t have been nicer.”

Allen said his wife, the adopted daughter of Allen’s ex-wife Mia Farrow and her previous husband Andre Previn, had wanted to meet the duke.

She told The Sunday Times she “could not stand” Andrew, describing him as “such a dullard”.

Allen said he and Soon-Yi Previn became regular guests at Epstein’s house, where “there was always a table of illustrious people”.

“We never, ever, saw Jeffrey with underage girls. He always had a girlfriend but never an underage girlfriend,” he said.

He said Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year term for sex trafficking, was not at any of the dinner parties.

Epstein was found dead in his cell in a New York prison in 2019 after being arrested on sex trafficking charges.

Prince Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein. He also paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Virginia Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.

Peter Mandelson was forced out as UK ambassador to the US over his links to Epstein. Photo: AAP

Accuser’s siblings speak

Meanwhile, Giuffre’s siblings have told a BBC interview that Lord Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed UK ambassador to the US.

The British Labour grandee was sacked last Thursday after emails were published showing he had sent supportive messages to Jeffrey Epstein, even as the paedophile faced jail for sex offences.

Giuffre, who died in Western Australia in April aged 41, was one of the most outspoken accusers of convicted sex offenders Epstein and Maxwell.

Virginia Giuffre spoke out about Epstein and Maxwell. Photo: AAP

Her brother, Sky Roberts, and sister-in-law Amanda Roberts gave their first broadcast interview in Britain on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.

“Absolutely not. He should not have been given the position in the first place,” he said when asked if Mandelson should have been given the role in February.

“Why does it take us to have to pull out the skeletons for people to be held accountable?

“Our governments have allowed these people to hold their status and their title without shame, and so part of me is like, we should have done something sooner.

“He should have never been given that title.”

Sky and Amanda Roberts say Mandelson should have “never been given that title”. Photo: AAP

Giuffre sued Prince Andrew for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein. That eventually led to him paying millions of pounds to settle the case.

She alleged they trafficked her to the duke. He denied the claims, saying he never met Giuffre.

Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein.

Roberts said the royal family had not reached out to their family in any way following the settlement, and that she believed more revelations would “come to light”.

A memoir of Giuffre’s life, titled Nobody’s Girl, will be published in October.

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