JEFFREY Epstein’s autopsy has added further mystery to the paedo's demise after it revealed multiple broken neck bones hinting at strangulation, according to reports.

The disgraced financier, 66, was found dead in his jail cell on Saturday - just days after being taken off suicide watch.

6 Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy revealed the paedo suffered multiple breaks in his neck bones Credit: AP:Associated Press

6 Hospital staff were seen preparing a white coroner's van believed to contain Jeffrey Epstein's body Credit: The Mega Agency

During his autopsy, Epstein was found to have broken his hyoid bone, which is near the Adam's apple in men, according to the Washington Post.

Although hyoid breaks can occur during a hanging, experts told the paper the fracture is more common in strangulation victims.

Jonathan L. Arden, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, said a hyoid break is more commonly associated with homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging.

He told the Post: “If, hypothetically, the hyoid bone is broken, that would generally raise questions about strangulation, but it is not definitive and does not exclude suicidal hanging,”

Epstein's death has been described as an "apparent suicide" by US Attorney General William Barr.

The report is likely to fuel conspiracy theories surrounding the predator's 'suicide’ - before he was due to stand trial for running a child sex ring.

An autopsy was performed on Epstein's body on Sunday, but officials said they needed more information before they can give an official cause of death.

“The Medical Examiner’s determination is pending further information at this time,” a statement said.

Epstein’s representatives were granted their request for a private pathologist to observe the autopsy – this is routine practice.

The Chief Medical Examiner said his office would deter to the other law agencies involved regarding investigations around the death.

The FBI is understood to be investigating the death given the nature of this case and out of an "abundance of caution".

Guards on Epstein's unit were working extreme overtime shifts to make up for staff shortages the day of his apparent suicide, reports claim.

CLASH WITH CELL MATE? EPSTEIN'S death followed an incident on July 23 in which he was found nearly unconscious on the floor of his cell with marks on his neck and was placed on a suicide watch. But he was removed from the suicide watch on July 29 at the request of his defence lawyers, according to reports. At the time of the July 23 incident, Epstein was sharing his cell with a hulking, former cop, Nicholas Tartaglione, who faces a death-penalty trial in four drug-related slayings in New York state. Epstein told his lawyers that “the cop roughed him up, and that’s why they got him off suicide watch,” the source familiar with Epstein’s case said. Tartaglione’s lawyer, Bruce Barket, disputed that account, saying, “I spoke to his lawyers and they never hinted at that to me, but he must have said something to get off suicide watch.” “I do know that Nick was not brought up on any charges at all in the institution, so they cleared him. “It’s simply, patently false to say that [Epstein] did anything other than try to kill himself at least twice, and succeeded when he succeeded.” The US Bureau of Prisons, which runs the MCC, declined to comment, citing investigations into Epstein’s death by the FBI and the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General. Epstein’s legal team didn’t return a request for comment.

GUARDS 'FELL ASLEEP FOR THREE HOURS'

Two of the guards reportedly fell asleep for three hours before Epstein hanged himself and then faked the logs to cover their mistakes.

CCTV shows Epstein’s guards never made some of the checks logged the morning the disgraced financier died, a source told AP.

The two guards in the special housing unit where Epstein was held should have been checking on him every 30 minutes, according to protocol.

But they had actually been asleep for some or all of the three hours at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, officials told the New York Times.

Guards on the unit are now suspected of faking log entries to show they were making the necessary checks, according to a source.

In the past, guards at both federal and state prisons have faced criminal charges over false entries in duty logs.

The two guards have been placed on leave and the warden has been moved to an office job while authorities investigate the death.

LAST WORDS TO LAWYERS EPSTEIN was confident he could fight the child sex trafficking charges against him and was in “great spirits” just hours before his jailhouse death on Saturday morning, according to reports. The paedo financier even told one of his lawyers, “I’ll see you Sunday,” according to the New York Post. The convict also allegedly told his lawyers that the neck injuries he suffered in an earlier incident at the Metropolitan Correctional Center were inflicted by his ex-cop cellmate, which led the lawyers to request that he be taken off a suicide watch, according to sources close to the case. His optimism in the clink was apparently clear to his lawyers during their daily visits which could last up to 12. Reportedly he was so upbeat that it struck some of those around him as “delusional”. A source told the Post “he thought he was going to win the double-jeopardy motion” that his defence lawyers were planning to file in connection with his 2008 Florida prostitution conviction. He even hoped to be bailed through an application that was pending before the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals at the time of his death. The source added: “What he really wanted to do was get bail so he could cooperate.” But whatever evidence Epstein may have had against his rich and powerful former friends died with him, because he kept no diary or notes that documented any alleged wrongdoing, the source said. While locked up at the MCC, Epstein’s mood rarely wavered during the seven-days-a-week meetings with his lawyers, which routinely began at 8 a.m., the source said. “Every day he was very positive and the night before he was real positive,” the source said. “He was in great spirits the night before.” Epstein even told a lawyer who met with him on Friday — one day before the US Bureau of Prisons has said he was found “unresponsive” in his cell — that he was looking forward to their next visit. “He was like, ‘I’ll see you Sunday,’ ” the source said. It’s unclear whether Epstein’s sustained sunny disposition was sincere, or part of an elaborate act designed to enable him to kill himself.

TAKEN OFF SUICIDE WATCH

Epstein is understood to have killed himself just 12 days after being removed from suicide watch.

He was placed on the watch after apparently trying to take his own life on July 23, shortly after he was denied bail ahead of his sex trafficking trial.

But less than a week after he was found with marks on his neck, prison officials determined he was no longer a threat.

On July 29, he returned to a cell in the 9 South housing unit which he shared with another inmate.

But his cellmate was later transferred, leaving Epstein alone on Friday night.

Epstein, 66, was found “unresponsive” in his cell at around 6.30 am local time on Saturday, according to an official statement.

Staff at the Metropolitan Correctional Center tried to revive him, and he was eventually taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

His death came hours after a Manhattan court released a 1,200-page dossier detailing lurid abuse allegations against him.

The explosive papers also named some of the world’s elite leaders and politicians.

'HEADS MUST ROLL'

Calls are mounting for those behind the mistakes at the jail to be punished amid reports that the guards involved were working overtime.

“Heads must roll,” Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to US Attorney General William Barr in a scathing letter Saturday.

“Every single person in the Justice Department - from your Main Justice headquarters staff all the way to the night-shift jailer - knew that this man was a suicide risk, and that his dark secrets couldn’t be allowed to die with him,” he wrote.

Others point our Epstein was clearly at risk pointing to his bizarre behaviour in the days leading up to his suicide.

The twisted tycoon was living like a pig after his first suicide attempt, it has been claimed.

He was eating his meals off the floor and constantly requesting more toilet paper and lived "like a pig in a sty", a source said.

DEATH TO BE 'RECONSTRUCTED'

The Bureau of Prisons sent a team of prison psychologists, known as a suicide reconstruction team, to the jail on Tuesday, a Justice Department official said.

They are expected to reconstruct the scene, analyse why Epstein took his own life and look at how it happened, the official said.

The official said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen was being briefed by the FBI every three hours on the progress of their investigation.

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On Monday, Barr said that he was "frankly angry to learn of the MCC's failure to adequately secure this prisoner”.

He added: “We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability."

Timeline of the allegations against Jeffrey Epstein The allegations against him go back to the 2000s 2005 - Parents of a 14-year-old girl told police in Florida that Epstein had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home. A police search of the property found photos of girls throughout the house. 2006 - Charged with multiple counts of unlawful sexual acts with a minor. 2007 - Epstein’s lawyers put together a plea deal for Epstein, who was the 54. He agreed to plead guilty to two felony prostitution charges in state court, In exchange, he and his accomplices received immunity from federal sex-trafficking charges that could have sent him to prison for life. 2008 - Appears in court to plead guilty on two lesser counts and sentenced to a 18 months in jail and was released early in 2009 July 2019 - Arrested charges of child sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. Prosecutors accused him in a grand jury indictment of paying dozens of girls as young as 14 to engage in sex acts with him at his New York and Florida properties from 2002 to 2005. Pleaded not guilty and could face up to 45 years in prison if convicted. More than a dozen women have now come forward with more sex abuse allegations. August 2019 - Hundreds of pages of court documents were unsealed alleging new details of sexual abuse claims against Epstein and several associates. August 10 2019 - The twisted tycoon dies after apparently hanging himself in his prison cell.

6 Jeffrey Epstein had denied the charges against him Credit: AP:Associated Press

6 Jeffrey Epstein had been on suicide watch while being in New York Credit: Rex Features

6 Jeffrey Epstein pictured with Donald Trump and Melania in 2000 Credit: Getty - Contributor

6 Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts during a visit she made to London with Jeffrey Epstein Credit: Rex Features

Jeffrey Epstein dead aged 66 – Investigation is launched as Jeffrey Epstein 'killed himself' ahead of sex trafficking trial

The New York Post and news.com.au also contributed to this article

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