Philippine police obtain warrant to examine devices in Thomas Markle inquiry

Philippine Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said police inspected Thomas Markle’s former home in Cebu after allegations from his son and found what he described as child sexual abuse material and a laptop. He told AFP the laptop was undergoing forensic examination and said he expected results within a week. Any legal action against Markle would depend on whether there was sufficient evidence to charge him, Remulla said.

The inquiry follows a report in The Sun in which Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, said he had found child sexual abuse images among their father’s belongings and reported them to police. The director of the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation separately told the Associated Press that the FBI had sought its assistance with the allegations. Thomas Markle Sr denied possessing the images in an interview with the Daily Mail.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, said on Friday she was “deeply distressed” by the allegations. She said her decision to keep her father from having contact with her children was intended to protect them. In explaining that decision, she said she had been shown a letter containing earlier allegations about her father.

Meghan dated that letter to 2018, but London’s Metropolitan Police said its records showed it received the letter in January 2019. The force said it passed the claims to Harry and Meghan’s office but did not share them with other law enforcement agencies. Meghan’s spokesperson accepted that she might have mistaken the date. The Met is reviewing its handling of the letter and considering whether to refer the matter to the police watchdog. That review is separate from the Philippine investigation; the content of the earlier letter has not been established as the same as the allegations now under investigation.

Update

A court in the Philippine city of Cebu has authorised police to examine material handed over from the former home of Thomas Markle, father of the Duchess of Sussex, the BBC reports. The warrant allows investigators to inspect devices in an inquiry into alleged child sexual abuse images; it does not establish what the devices contain or whether Markle possessed any such material.

Markle’s son, Thomas Markle Jr, has alleged that he found child sexual abuse images among his father’s belongings at the former home. He handed police four boxes containing computers, phones, hard drives and old videotapes, according to the BBC. Thomas Markle Sr strongly denies possessing child sexual abuse material.