Police ‘granted warrant to examine Thomas Markle’s devices’ over alleged child sex abuse images

Police ‘granted warrant to examine Thomas Markle’s devices’ over alleged child sex abuse images The Duchess of Sussex said last week that she had been made aware of ‘disturbing allegations’ against her father, who denies all the allegations - Bookmark Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in Police in the Philippines have been granted a warrant to examine alleged child sex abuse images belonging to the Duchess of Sussex’s father Thomas Markle. The material, including digital devices and hard drives, will be inspected by officers in the country after a court granter permission to search them, according to media reports. They were handed over to police by Meghan’s half brother, Thomas Markle Jr, who claims he found them in his father’s home in Cebu. However, police had to acquire a court warrant before inspecting the items. Thomas Markle Snr denies all the allegations and has claimed the accusations by his son “sick lies”. Cebu regional prosecutor Graeme Elmido told the BBC that Mr Markle Jr was "adamant" the case be investigated because he believed his father "has to answer for it". Mr Markle Jr told The Sun last week he found a stash of child sex abuse images belonging to their father at his former home in the Philippines and reported it to local police and the FBI. The US has an extradition treaty with the Philippines, which means Mr Markle Sr could face trial there if charged, and could face between 10 and 12 years behind bars if found guilty of accessing child abuse images. Mr Markle Sr has admitted to paying for sex in the southeast Asian country but denies ever possessing a hoard of such material. Scotland Yard has said it passed the Duchess of Sussex a letter it had received in 2019, which contained a “number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom”, and was assured that they were investigated. Meghan sent a final letter to her father in 2025 while he was recovering there from a leg amputation last year, according to reports in the Sun on Sunday. She wrote to say she knows he is an abuser and that he will never see his grandchildren Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, the outlet said. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Mr Markle Sr said he has “never had sex with anyone under the age of 18”. He told the paper that when he was single he travelled to the Philippines at least twice and “slept with prostitutes”. “I like Asian women but that is not a crime,” he said. “I am not well enough to go to the Philippines but I will speak to anyone who wants to talk to me. I have nothing to hide.” Meghan became estranged from her former TV lighting director father in the run-up to her 2018 royal wedding after he was caught staging paparazzi photographs. He did not attend the wedding, leaving the King to accompany Meghan down the aisle and meaning the only member of her family present was her mother, Doria Ragland. Meghan was the only child of Mr Markle Sr’s marriage to Ms Ragland. In 2021, Meghan won a High Court privacy and copyright claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over articles that reproduced parts of a “personal and private” handwritten letter she wrote to Mr Markle Sr in a bid to get him to stop talking to the press. She wrote the emotional five-page letter to him in August 2018 after taking advice from two unnamed senior royals. This is a breaking news story, more follows...