Former British socialist and convicted supplier Gislane Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of recruiting and trafficking young girls.
This is a meaningful sentence that reflects the enormity of what the judge called her “disgusting” crimes. In the weeks leading up to her sentence, her lawyers presented her with arguments to mitigate her. Much of this was a long description of Maxwell’s unhappy childhood. Before you take out your handkerchiefs and say, “Oh, that explains it,” I will remind you of what Maxwell was convicted of: conspiracy to attract minors to engage in illegal sexual activity, conspiracy to transport minors with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to commit criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to commit sexual trafficking of minors and sexual trafficking of minors.
One of the girls was 14 when Maxwell lured her from the street to a life full of heinous violence. Now this is definitely an unhappy childhood.
Maxwell’s life was terrible in parts, of course. Her father, publisher Robert Maxwell, was one of the biggest fraudsters in British corporate history. Her eldest brother, Michael, suffered a car accident when Maxwell was two days old, leaving him with catastrophic injuries and unconscious until he died a few years later. At the age of three, who is said to suffer from anorexia, Maxwell told his mother, “Mom, I exist.” Her father was often absent, and when he was at home he was a powerful bully. She once said that he hit her hand with a hammer, leaving her bruised for weeks. She was sent to a boarding school. Her parents separated when she was 20. Her father mysteriously drowned when authorities imprisoned him. He always said he would not leave money to his children.
But as you read this, you are probably thinking of people you know who have had some of these childhood experiences: the death of a brother or sister, a tyrannical father. A whole class of Britons were sent to boarding schools. And a whole other class of Britons never received money from their parents. Did they spend years getting children to be rapists?
Maxwell’s lawyers said of her background that “this makes her vulnerable to Epstein.” This speaks to the popular story that Maxwell’s crimes can be explained because she is the victim of two bullies; her father and Epstein. I spent nearly two years investigating Maxwell for a television series. I reject this story. She was in herself an evil, greedy, and corrupt criminal. She was an active partner in seducing and trafficking girls and was involved in sexual assault. She enjoyed the luxurious lifestyle provided in return by Epstein, who gave her, among the many gifts, approximately $ 20 million with which she bought a townhouse for $ 17 million in New York. Her way of life was breathtaking; flying in private planes between Epstein’s townhouse, New York’s largest private home, and its fabulous Caribbean island.
Of course, the nature of Maxwell’s crimes is difficult to credit. As a society, it is difficult for us to accept that a woman will persecute and sexually rape other women. But it happens. Maxwell was an empowered woman who used her cunning and intelligence to commit crimes over the years that brought her great wealth. Robert Maxwell can be blamed for many things: the robbery of his company’s pension scheme and the turning of his son Kevin into the biggest bankrupt in British history. But Gislane Maxwell is guilty of her own crimes, not her father.
If we believe in equality, we must treat male and female sexual predators equally. Why should we accept that the woman is not responsible for her own actions, and the man is really guilty of her crimes? I run a women’s college in Cambridge. I am a feminist. I believe that women can be as good as men – and as bad as men.
One of the interviewees in our documentary “Creating a Monster” describes Maxwell’s attitude towards her victims. When, unaware of the enormity of what was happening, this woman expressed concern that many young women were with Epstein, Maxwell told her, “They are rubbish.” There she has a relationship with her father. Robert Maxwell also treated both women and men as garbage. Someone who knew them both told me, “When you’re raised without a moral compass, you can’t get one later.”
My favorite part of the mitigating statement emphasizes that later in life Ghislaine created a charity to save the oceans. It’s great to know that she’s really interested in fish. Unfortunately, the oceans will not take advantage of her altruism in the 1920s in prison. I think we can live with that.
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Ghislaine Maxwell: The Making of a Monster will air on Channel 4 from 9pm on July 5th. Dorothy Byrne is a documentary filmmaker and president of Murray Edwards College in Cambridge.
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