Frail-looking Ghislaine Maxwell makes first appearance to plead not guilty to sex trafficking charges

It was the day Ghislaine Maxwell had spent nine months and 13 days waiting for - the chance to plead her innocence in front of a packed New York courtroom.

An arraignment is usually a procedural affair, particularly in the time of Covid where defendants mostly opt to appear via videolink, but Ms Maxwell was determined to have her moment before the judge.

The British socialite on Friday appeared in person for the first time since her arrest in July after being granted rare permission by Judge Alison Nathan.

She pleaded not guilty to the two new sex trafficking charges against her, speaking in her clipped British accent only to confirm she understood the charges.

The 59-year-old had already pleaded not guilty to charges of recruiting and grooming teenage girls from 1994-1997 to provide sexual massages to her one-time boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein.

Ms Maxwell’s lawyers have been claiming in various appeals for bail that she has lost weight and that her hair has been falling out as a result of the “Kafkaesque” prison conditions in a Brooklyn federal prison.

She did appear frailer than her last virtual appearance in July.

Dressed only in a thin baby blue t-shirt and black tracksuit bottoms with her feet in shackles, she crossed her arms tightly as if to warm her much smaller frame.

As she listened to the judge she ran her hands through a lank, greying mop of hair that has now grown to shoulder length - no longer the trademark pixie cut she has become known for.

A member of Ms Maxwell's family was in court for the hearing. Dressed in a black beret, glasses and a face mask, it was believed to be one of her twin sisters who resides in the US.

At one point Ms Maxwell turned to wave at them in the public gallery.

Her court appearance was the first time she has been seen by a member of her family since she was arrested in a dawn raid on the home she shared with her husband Scott Borgerson in New Hampshire in July.

Mr Borgerson, 44, an American entrepreneur, was nowhere to be seen on Friday, however. Her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, declined to say why he had not shown up in support.

Little has been seen of Mr Borgerson since he stepped down from his tech company CargoMetrics to avoid being a “distraction”.

The defendant's brother, Ian Maxwell, who after months of silence last month launched a PR campaign to have his sister freed from custody, was unable to travel from the UK due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Due to the coronavirus most hearings in the Southern District of New York are taking place via Zoom or through a dial-in phone line.

However, Ms Maxwell requested to appear in person after a January hearing held by videolink was hijacked by 14,000 QAnon conspiracy theorists who illegally streamed the proceedings on YouTube.

Those present in the courtroom were required to undergo strict temperature checks and made to wear two masks.

Outside the Manhattan courthouse, protesters held up a banner reading: "Epstein is the worst kind of virus".

Sources close to the Maxwell family told The Telegraph that Friday’s appearance was about her wanting to “face her accusers head on”, as well as it being a welcome break from her prison cell at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

Ms Maxwell’s legal team has applied for bail and been rejected three times. Judge Nathan ruled that with three passports and considerable assets she continued to be a significant flight risk.

In the latest appeal, Ms Maxwell even offered to rescind her British and French citizenship in order to leave prison to prepare for her trial at home.

Appealing to a higher court, her lawyers told the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals that Ms Maxwell has not been given an adequate opportunity to prove that she would not flee if she was allowed to await trial at home under 24-hour armed guard and with collateral posted to support a $28.5 million (£20m) bail.

The bond - one of the largest in US history - comes from joint funds with Mr Borgerson, as well as money put up by family members and friends.

In a press conference after the brief 10-minute hearing, Mr Markus said he had visited Ms Maxwell the previous night in prison and said she was “holding up” but that in his 23 years in the job he has never seen a defendant "treated so poorly". "She deserves a fair shot, a fair trial," he told the gathered media. "She has not been given it."