A newly disclosed email attributed to Ghislaine Maxwell appears to confirm that the photograph showing Prince Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre is genuine and was taken at Maxwell’s London home, contradicting suggestions in the past that the image may have been manipulated.

The message, dated 2015 and released in the latest tranche of US Department of Justice files relating to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, includes Maxwell “stating for the record as fact” that Prince Andrew visited her house and met a woman whose name is redacted but is widely reported to be Giuffre. The email also says a photograph was taken that day.

The disclosure is likely to renew scrutiny of Prince Andrew’s account of his whereabouts on the date Giuffre has said the photo was taken, after he cited a visit to a Pizza Express in Woking as an alibi during his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview.

The email forms part of a release of more than three million documents connected to Epstein, published by the US Department of Justice in late January. The correspondence appears to show Maxwell drafting a statement in response to growing media coverage of allegations made in the United States, sending it to Epstein and receiving feedback in return.

In the draft email, Maxwell writes: “In 2001 I was in London when (redacted) met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew.”

She adds: “A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family.”

Maxwell continues: “I never asked (redacted) to give him a massage.”

The draft then includes an emphatic assertion of the meeting at her home: “I am stating for the record as fact” before adding: “Prince Andrew came to my house to visit me – (redacted) was in the house and they did meet.”

The photograph at the centre of the controversy shows Andrew standing with his arm around Giuffre, who has said she was 17 at the time. The image is thought to have been taken on 10 March 2001 at Maxwell’s home in London. Andrew has said he has no recollection of meeting Giuffre.

Maxwell had previously suggested publicly that the picture may have been altered. The newly released email, if authentic and accurately reported, would undercut that earlier suggestion by describing the circumstances in which the image was taken.

The correspondence also indicates Maxwell was attempting to rebut allegations of sexual contact involving Andrew. In one message, Epstein replies that her draft statement left “too many unanswered questions”, asking: “Her and andrew?…whats the deal here? why is she there.”

Maxwell responds that she needs a statement “asap” and references legal advice about what she should say. In a further line, she writes: “I was not aware of massage w/andrew in my house.”

She adds: “These thing they have to stay, along w/meeting virginia and rebutting those allegations. I needs it asap.”

The email thread is headed “first draft privledged joint defense agreement”, as written in the released files.

Maxwell’s draft statement also denies wrongdoing and attacks the credibility and motives of her accuser, saying the “allegations made against me by (redacted) are lies” and describing “salacious claims” as being made “purely for financial gain”. It refers to “relentless media harassment” and says she intended to complain to the Press Complaints Commission.

Maxwell also writes that she had “no knowledge” of the redacted person “having sexual activity” with Andrew or any other “famous people”.

Giuffre, who for years alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to powerful men when she was a teenager, died last year aged 41. Her family issued a statement following the latest document release, saying the email amounted to a fresh vindication.

“The DOJ released an email from Ghislaine Maxwell in which she admits that she introduced Virginia to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and that the infamous photo of them is real and was taken in her flat,” the statement said.

The family added: “We reiterate that Virginia was a truth teller.”

They said Giuffre “never wavered” despite “death threats and smear campaigns”, and claimed that several people she named have since faced consequences. The family said they were “hopeful that Andrew will face criminal charges”.

The statement also pointed to what it described as a sworn deposition by Giuffre contained within the newly released material, and said most names she provided had not been redacted in that deposition. The family said they hoped further names would be disclosed in future releases either by the Department of Justice or Epstein’s estate.

Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In his BBC Newsnight interview in 2019, he said he could not have been with Giuffre on the date she described, telling the programme he had been in Woking with his daughter, Princess Beatrice, at a Pizza Express earlier that day.

“I was with the children, and I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at, I suppose, sort of 4pm or 5pm in the afternoon,” he said at the time, describing it as “an unusual thing for me to do”.

Despite his denials, Andrew reached a multi-million pound settlement in 2022 with Giuffre in a civil case in the United States, without admitting liability. He was subsequently stripped of his remaining titles and public roles, and his standing within the Royal Family has remained severely curtailed.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence in the United States after being convicted of offences connected to Epstein’s abuse of underage girls. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in custody in 2019.

There has been no immediate comment from representatives for Prince Andrew on the newly highlighted email. The Department of Justice release is likely to intensify calls for clarity over what, if any, steps may follow in the United Kingdom or the United States in response to new documentary material emerging from the Epstein case.