Met police confirm allegation of rape under investigation after Natasha Prince claimed magician assaulted her when she was 21

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The American magician David Blaine has been accused of raping a model in a London house more than a decade ago.

The star’s lawyer said he “vehemently denies” the allegation made by former fashion model Natasha Prince.

In an interview with the US website the Daily Beast, the model claims Blaine raped her at a private home in Chelsea, west London, in the summer of 2004, months after her 21st birthday.

Blaine, who had made his name in New York as an illusionist and endurance artist, had become famous in the UK the year before when he lived without food for 44 days in a perspex box suspended from a crane near Tower Bridge.

Prince, who was born in the UK but lives abroad, told the Daily Beast that she flew to London in 2016 to report the allegations on 16 December at Kensington police station.

She told the website she met Blaine at a party in London in the summer of 2004, and that she visited his house the following night. “It was like an embassy, with 20 or 30 rooms and I took an elevator up to the third or fourth floor,” she recalled.

According to her interview, a couple were already in the house drinking cocktails when she arrived and they were so rapt in conversation they did not seem to be aware of her interactions with Blaine.

She said Blaine handed her a drink and then invited her into an adjacent room, where she says the alleged assault took place.

Blaine’s lawyer, Marty Singer, denied all allegations. “My client vehemently denies that he raped or sexually assaulted any woman, ever, and he specifically denies raping a woman in 2004,” Singer said.

He added that “if, in fact, there is any police investigation, my client will fully cooperate because he has nothing to hide”.

Police in London said they do “not identify any person who may, or may not be, subject to an investigation”.

However, a statement confirmed that officers from the Metropolitan police’s child abuse and sexual offences command were investigating an allegation of rape.

“The allegation was reported to police on 17 November 2016 by a woman who alleged she was raped at an address in Chelsea in June or July 2004 when she was aged 21,” it said.

“There have been no arrests at this stage and enquiries continue. The Met does not identify any person who may, or may not be, subject to an investigation.”