A former friend of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein says he regrets “very, very deeply indeed” his companionship with the deceased New York City businessman, in his first public statement since Epstein’s “ birthday book ” release revealed personal correspondence between the pair.

Peter Mandelson, the current U.K. ambassador to the U.S., acknowledged his long-standing friendship with Epstein during an interview with British journalist Harry Cole on Wednesday.

Addressing scrutiny for a note he wrote Epstein in the birthday book, in which he referred to him as his “best pal,” Mandelson told Cole he felt “a tremendous sense of sympathy for those people, those women, who suffered as a result of his [Epstein’s] behaviour and his illegal criminal activities.”

“And, secondly, I regr

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