Ghislaine Maxwell trial live: Latest updates as Trump Epstein friendship in spotlight

After straightforward questioning that established that Dr Rocchio had not interviewed anyone connected with the case and that her pay does not depend on the outcome of the trial, she was simply asked to define “grooming”.

“Strategies to get children into sex.”

She says she has seen examples in the Boy Scouts through camping trips, and in other cases through gifts such as jewellery to make a child feel special.

Asked how common it is for a child to be repeatedly abused by the person, she replies that it is very common and that it is usually someone close to the child.

In terms of the environment in which grooming takes place, she says that the perpetrator develops trust with people around the child such as the parents.

Dr Lisa Rocchio is a psychotherapist who acts as an expert witness in the fields of traumatic stress and dissociation, intimate partner violence, rape and sexual assault, victimisation, discrimination, and harassment.

She has been brought in by the prosecution to discuss grooming.

Day four of the trial begins with a new witness — Paul Kane, director of finance of New York’s Professional Children’s School.

The school is an independent day school on West 60th St in Manhattan serving grades six to 12.

Mr Kane is asked by the prosecution to identify a document, which he recognises as an enrollment application for a student.

Asked what happens when such a form is received, he says they contact the family by phone and then invite them for a tour of the school and a conversation.

Without mentioning the name of the student on the application, Mr Kane is asked what grade the person on the form was applying for, to which he replies: “12th grade, due to a move to New York.”

Listed as the person of financial responsibility on the form is Mr Jeffrey Epstein.

Alleged victim Teresa Helm, who gave an interview to the BBC, was seen entering the court with attorney Sigrid McCawley as day four of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial begins.

Day four of the Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking trial will begin on Thursday morning, and the 59-year-old socialite’s second accuser is expected to take the stand.

Annie Farmer is the only one of Ms Maxeell’s four accusers who will testify without a pseudonym.

Ms Farmer, a 42-year-old psychotherapist, claims she was flown to Jefrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch in 1996 at the age of 16 where she was groomed and given sexualised massages.

Ms Farmer has recounted the alleged abuse for the Netflix documentary Filthy Rich, and in numerous media interviews over the years.

During the defense’s opening statement, Bobbi Sternheim said Ms Maxwell met with Ms Farmer only once in Santa Fe.

“You should wonder why she is even a part of this case. Because from our perspective, what happened in New Mexico is not illegal conduct under the terms of this indictment,” Ms Sternheim told the jury on Monday.

Ms Sternheim said Ms Farmer had received $1.5 million from a victim’s compensation fund.

The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of recruiting and grooming girls for deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein to abuse, got underway on Monday in New York federal court.

Here is an explanation of the charges Maxwell faces and her expected defence:

A British woman called Emmy was named by witness “Jane” as having taken part in “sexualised massages.”

Laura Menninger, Maxwell’s lawyer, asked Jane about Emmy: “You said that Emmy was British and that she was nice and cool. She was involved in the group massages with you? She was involved with the sexual contact?”

“Jane” replied: “Yes.”

She went on to describe four other women who took part in the massages and who she thought were models.

The “tall” and “thin” women were apparently called Sophie, Eva, Michelle and Kelly, the witness recalled.

Daniel Besselsen will return to the stand on day four of the trial.

The finance executive at the Interlochen Center for the Arts the nonprofit organisation behind the summer camp where witness “Jane” said she first met Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein will give evidence on Thursday.

Mr Besselsen provided records which comprised donor letters confirming Epstein and Maxwell’s relationship to the camp. These included one addressed to Maxwell saying that a lodge had been reserved for the use of Epstein’s in August of 1994.

It is thought that this is where the couple met Jane.

Epstein had funded a two-bedroom lodge, known as the Jeffrey Epstein Scholarship Lodge, at Interlochen in northern Michigan where parents, donors and other guests could stay.

The lodge’s name has now been changed to the Green Lake Lodge.

The trial of the sex trafficking case of Ghislaine Maxwell is being overseen by US District Judge Alison Nathan.

Judge Nathan is 48 years old and hails from Pennsylvania. She has decades of experience on high-profile cases and is reputed to be a tough litigator.

The Cornell Law School graduate spent a decade on the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, having been appointed to the District Court in 2011, by then President Barack Obama.

Before this, she served as an associate White House counsel and special assistant to Mr Obama. Later she served as a special counsel to New York State’s solicitor general.

Judge Nathan has denied Maxwell’s request for bail four times, even though Maxwell offered $28.5 million (£23m) in bond for her release.

She has also ruled against the defence on almost every objection they had to witnesses who were proposed by the prosecution.