US President Donald Trump (R) stands with his wife Melania Trump (2L) their son Barron Trump (C) and father-in-law Viktor Knavs. Photo: AFP / Giorgio Viera
US President Donald Trump's youngest son helped a London police probe after alerting them to an unfolding attack on a woman he had met on social media, a UK court heard.
Barron Trump's surprise involvement in the criminal case at a court northeast of London began attracting media attention on Wednesday (local time), when details of what happened were outlined for jurors at the alleged attacker's trial.
Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, is on trial accused of assault and two counts of rape, among other charges, against the alleged victim, whom Barron Trump told police he was "very close with".
Rumiantsev denies all the charges. The woman cannot be identified for legal reasons.
Barron Trump, 19, - the only son of the US president and First Lady Melania Trump - called British police from the United States on 18 January 2025, reporting he had witnessed the assault during a video call with the woman.
British newspaper Metro, which first reported the case, said the defendant is her ex-boyfriend and that he was jealous of her friendship with the American president's son.
Jurors this week heard recordings of the phone conversation between Barron Trump and the London police operator in which he states, "I just got a call from a girl" who is "getting beat up".
"She's getting really badly beat up and the call was about 8 minutes ago, I don't know what could have happened by now," he added.
Barron Trump would not initially tell the operator how he knew the woman, but after being admonished for being "rude" eventually explained that he "met her on social media".
The woman told jurors this week that Barron Trump's intervention "helped save my life", Metro reported.
The jury heard on Thursday (local time) of an email to London police investigating the allegations from the US president's son in which he wrote that what he saw was "very brief indeed".
"The individual who answered (the video-call) was a shirtless man with darkish hair. This view lasted maybe one second... then the view flipped to the victim," he stated in the May 2, 2025, email.
"I was told by the victim who I am very close with that this individual was giving her difficulty for a long time," he added.
Giving evidence later Thursday, Rumiantsev said he was "upset" when he saw the complainant's messages to Barron Trump after becoming aware of their friendship three months earlier and they had subsequently argued about it on occasions.
The Russian citizen, who lives in London, told the court that he had tried to explain to the complainant "that I felt upset as well about her talking to Barron Trump".
The trial continues.
- AFP
