The trauma inflicted on Virginia Giuffre by her abusers was “not over when the court case was over”, a family member has said following her suicide.

Giuffre, 41, whose death at her home in Western Australia was announced on Saturday, was one of the most prominent accusers of Jeffrey Epstein, the late American financier and paedophile, and his British former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Amanda Roberts, Giuffre’s sister-in-law, said: “I think sometimes, that load and that weight becomes too much to carry.

In 2015 Giuffre founded the charity Speak Out, Act, Reclaim to support survivors of sex trafficking

EMILY MICHOT/TNS/ZUMA PRESS

“When you go through what she’s been through her entire life, it’s not over when the court case is over. You are still fighting for the rest of your life.

“So she’s fighting real physical pain that she endured, and she was fighting her