Washington, Dec 3 (IANS): A lawyer representing five women who have accused late American financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein of abusing them, has said that he planned to serve subpoenas to the UK's Prince Andrew to testify as a witness in all the five cases.

The lawyer, David Boies told the BBC: "One of the things that we have tried is to interview Prince Andrew and to try to get what his explanation is. He was a frequent visitor. They ought to submit to an interview. They ought to talk about it."

The subpoenas have been prepared for all five cases and would have to be signed off by a judge once the Prince, 59, was on US soil.

He would then be able to challenge the subpoena in court if he did not want to give evidence.

The victims have said that Prince Andrew witnessed how people were given massages at the sex offender's homes.

But the Duke of York has denied the claims, adding that he did not witness or suspect any suspicious behaviour during visits to Epstein's homes.

Criticism of Andrew for his relationship with the well-connected financier increased after the airing of the Prince's interview with the BBC last month.

Besides denying any memory of having met victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she had sex with the Prince while a minor on the orders of Epstein and the latter's friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, Andrew evinced no sympathy for the late financier's victims.

Giuffre has produced a photograph of her then-17-year-old self with Prince Andrew, his arm around her waist, and Maxwell standing in the background.

Though the sex-trafficking case against Epstein, 66, ended with his death four months ago inside a federal detention centre in New York, victims were suing his estate and prosecutors have left open the possibility of charging others people as accomplices.