Ghislaine Maxwell's Sister Breaks Down in Tears After Judge's Decision

Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of British tabloid mogul Robert Maxwell faces up to 80 years in prison for allegedly helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse young girls.

New footage released by ITV's "Good Morning Britain" shows Ghislaine Maxwell's sister Christine bursting into tears after the judge presiding over her case decided to leave her sibling behind bars for her 60th birthday. The video also showed Christine's twin sister Isabel comforting her as she buried her face in her hands.

On Wednesday, the jury in the Maxwell trial failed to reach a verdict before the long holiday weekend. The judge announced that Ghislaine Maxwell would spend her 60th birthday on Christmas Day behind bars, according to the New York Post.

Deliberations will continue on Monday.

Maxwell was arrested on 2 July 2020 and is charged with four federal counts over purportedly procuring young girls for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in a New York detention centre while awaiting trial in August 2019, for illegal sex acts and two more for perjury for lying to federal investigators in 2016. On 14 July 2020, a US court ruled that she would remain in custody until her trial on charges related to abusing young girls.

Ghislaine Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges levelled at her, which, according to the prosecution, occurred between 1994 and 2004.

Maxwell, often described as a British socialite, is the daughter of late newspaper publisher Robert Maxwell, who died under mysterious circumstances on his luxury yacht, the Ghislaine, in 1991 amid charges he had stolen the three-quarters of a billion-pound pension fund from his Daily Mirror newspaper group.