Prince Andrew could face late 2022 U.S. civil trial in woman's sex abuse case

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prince Andrew speaks to the media during Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Windsor Great Park, Britain following Friday's death of his father Prince Philip at age 99, April 11, 2021. Steve Parsons/PA Wire/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Wednesday said Britain's Prince Andrew should be prepared for a civil trial late next year on accusations that he sexually abused a woman when she was under 18 and also being abused by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said he anticipated a trial on Virginia Giuffre's civil claims would begin between September and December 2022, provided that a jury could be accommodated safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.