Philippine authorities are examining a cache of alleged child sexual abuse images linked to Thomas Markle Snr, with Interior Minister Jonvic Remulla warning that the evidence may point to “a possible sex offender of the grossest kind”.
Mr Remulla said forensic analysis was expected to be completed within a week, but stressed that officials wanted to establish the facts before publishing their findings.
“We want to be sure before we release the findings,” he said. “Please give us a week to determine the contents and to come up with a definitive picture.”
Mr Markle, 82, has denied having sex with anyone under the age of 18. He has admitted paying for sex while living in the Far East, but insists that he did not sleep with under-age girls.
Police in the Philippines removed four boxes of material on Friday and spent nine hours cataloguing the evidence with Mr Markle’s son, Thomas Markle Jr. Officers in Cebu City are investigating through an anti-trafficking and anti-child abuse task force.
The FBI has said it is aware of the allegations and will investigate any related claims involving possible violations of US law.
Allegations involving Meghan Markle’s father
Thomas Markle Jr, 60, claims he found the material on phones and computers left in storage after his father moved from Mexico to the Philippines. He said he was looking for a phone for his fiancée when he saw what he described as “vile” images on one device.
He also said a computer displayed a screensaver containing “hundreds” of sexual images of children. The allegations have not been proved, and investigators have yet to release the results of their forensic examination.
Mr Markle has said he never shared a house with his son and that his computer and old phone were transported from Mexico to the Philippines without him having access to them for almost two years.
“If there is anything bad on there it was put there by someone else,” he said.
He has also denied being the man shown in a 35mm photograph reportedly depicting a bearded man having sex with a young Asian girl, saying: “I have never been in a photograph like that.”
Mr Markle said he had travelled to the Philippines at least twice while single and had “slept with prostitutes”, but maintained that he had always dated women of an appropriate age.
“I have never had sex with anyone under the age of 18,” he said, adding that he would do whatever it took to clear his name.
The investigation has revived concerns previously raised with the Metropolitan Police. Meghan Markle was told seven years ago about what officers described as “troubling and disturbing” allegations after a letter was sent to the force, understood to have been written by Mr Markle’s late first wife, Roslyn Loveless.
Meghan has said the letter was later shared with her and that she was assured the claims were being investigated. The Metropolitan Police has since admitted that details of alleged offending outside the UK were not passed to other law enforcement agencies.
The force said it may refer itself to the police watchdog over its handling of the matter. Asked about the case, Angela Rayner described it as “an operational issue”.
The Housing Secretary said Meghan had endured “a tremendous amount of intrusion into her family” and that it must be difficult for her to have the allegations made public.
“At the heart of this, you’ve got a mother who is trying to raise her children and protect them, and to have a great family life,” Ms Rayner said. “That is obviously very difficult when you’re in the public eye.”
Meghan says children were being safeguarded
Meghan, who has been estranged from her father since 2018, said the allegations explained why he had never met her children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
In a statement, she said she was “deeply distressed” by the latest developments and that her thoughts were with any children who may have been harmed.
“I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them,” she said.
She added: “Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.”
Meghan sent a letter to her father last year while he was recovering in hospital in the Philippines after the amputation of his left leg. It was delivered by hand in a white envelope, and its contents were not initially disclosed.
It has since been reported that she told him he would never hear from her again or meet his grandchildren.
Meghan and Mr Markle became estranged before her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry, after he suffered a heart attack and did not attend the ceremony. King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, walked Meghan down the aisle at Windsor Castle.
Mr Markle moved to Cebu City from Mexico last year and later returned to the United States for medical treatment. He is now in a nursing facility in Florida, where he is learning to walk with a prosthetic limb.
His daughter Samantha Markle, who is his main caregiver, has rejected the allegations against him. She said that if her mother had written the original letter, it would have been motivated by “hatred and bitterness”, and insisted she had never been told that her father was a paedophile.
Thomas Markle Jr has apologised to Meghan, saying he had been “protecting the wrong person for the past nine years”. He said that, after seeing the material, he understood why she no longer spoke to their father and would not allow him to meet Harry or his grandchildren.
