‘We were warned by Miss Maxwell never to disturb him there. It was absolutely forbidden,’ they say

‘We were warned by Miss Maxwell never to disturb him there. It was absolutely forbidden,’ they say. Between 1999 and 2004, Epstein would visit at least once a month and Ghislaine was invariably with him. Miles says: ‘In our final meeting, he told me I had always been his conscience. I’m certainly battling with my conscience now.’ Riddle of phone numbers for ‘friends’ he’d never met Revealing an extraordinary network of power and influence, extending into the fields of politics, finance and showbusiness, Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘little black book’ showed just how important a man he had become. Yet when The Mail on Sunday contacted the people listed in the document, which was kept online, many said they had never met or even spoken to the disgraced financier. And they were appalled to discover he had their contact details, often including home and mobile telephone numbers. Lord Palumbo, the former Arts Council chairman and godfather to the Duke of York’s eldest daughter Beatrice, said: ‘I have never, never, met him. I am shocked I am in there. I am affronted. I don’t know him at all.’ Never heard of him: Both Toby Young (left) and Sir Richard Branson, were surprised to find themselves listed in a contacts books owned by Jeffrey Epstein Dame Gail Ronson, a charity fundraiser and wife of the multi-millionaire British developer Gerald Ronson, said: ‘I’ve never, ever, met him. I swear, you’ve completely gobsmacked me. It’s really distressing, horrible. ‘T lead a very private life so to find out you’re on this list, it’s very unsavoury.’ Her shock was echoed by the celebrity milliner Philip Treacy. ‘This sounds crazy, I’m amazed,’ he said. ‘Tm a hatmaker, I’ve never met Jeffrey Epstein and never had any reason to. I make hats. Does he look like the kind of person who would wear a hat? Bizarre.’ The ‘book’ also had numbers for the JCB tycoon Sir Anthony Bamford, but a spokesman insisted: “There doesn’t appear to be any connection. Sir Anthony doesn’t know Jeffrey Epstein.’ The journalist Toby Young, said: ‘I’ve never been within 100 yards of him and we move in completely HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_022974