Former Lib Dem minister Norman Baker calls Ghislaine Maxwell ‘a victim’ and ‘under Jeffrey Epstein’s spell’ as she faces sentencing today
A FORMER Lib Dem politician has described Ghislaine Maxwell as ‘a victim’ as she faces a possible 55 year sentence for five counts of sex trafficking.
In an exclusive interview on GB News, retired minister Norman Baker described how the 60-year old was ‘besotted’ with boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein and ‘under his spell’.
He said: “She’s in prison for the rest of her life. I mean, since there’s 55 to 65 years, however long she has it, you know, she’s 60 now, she’s not going to be coming out. Actually, she won’t be coming out at 115 will she, so that’s literally a life sentence. I think the interesting thing about Ghislaine Maxwell was how she was Epstein’s girlfriend. That’s how she was described, and also procuring girls for him. She seemed to be besotted, and under his control entirely, and not really within controlling her own destiny it seems to me and therefore that essentially the victim of that situation.”
Maxwell’s defence team have argued for the former British socialite to receive a ‘lenient’ sentence, particularly in light of being used as a scapegoat for Epstein, as he can no longer be sentenced due to committing suicide in his New York jail cell in 2019.
Discussing the sentencing with hosts Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, Baker also discussed that with Epstein dead, Maxwell might face a harsher sentence as victims look to see justice done in court. Baker commented: “I think there’s a wish to get justice or see justice done. And if you can’t catch the main perpetrator, you catch the second in command, as it were. And that’s what’s happening to some extent. I mean, I’m not suggesting she’s innocent, she’s not. But nevertheless, I mean Epstein was the real villain of the piece as it were.”
He added: “She was perfectly willing to procure young girls for him and then participate in those arrangements, which I think is bizarre.”
Some lawyers estimate more than 160 women and girls may have been victims of Jeffrey Epstein, resulting in the hefty and lengthy sentence that Maxwell now faces
