Thomas Markle Jr called his father’s denial “incredible”. Thomas Markle Snr says the claims are “sick lies”. No charges have been reported, and the allegations are unproven.
Thomas Markle Jr, 60, has responded to his father’s denial of allegations that Thomas Markle Snr, 82, possessed child sexual abuse material. He told The Sun the denial was “incredible” and challenged his father to explain how the material came to be among his belongings. Mr Markle Snr calls the claims “sick lies”. Police in the Philippines are investigating, and the Metropolitan Police have separately admitted they received a letter about him in 2019 and did not pass its allegations to other forces.
The son’s challenge
Mr Markle Jr told The Sun, in an interview published on Friday: “I’m sure the huge piles of evidence I’ve taken to the police today will reveal the truth once the police experts examine it. I would never have handed it all to the police if I wasn’t 1,000 per cent confident that it has nothing to do with me.”
He added: “I’m sure that my father does not have the same confidence — but if he does, then I challenge him to clear up the mystery of how it all got there.” He asked who could have put the alleged material among his father’s belongings if his father was not responsible.
He hopes the matter ends in a court appearance. “I’m hoping that my father ends up in court either here, or most likely, back home in the US to face justice,” he said. “That would be the best place if he wants to issue a denial and clear his name.” He called for forensic experts to establish who downloaded and viewed the alleged material, and said he would cooperate with investigators.
As Page Six previously reported, Mr Markle Jr said he found “hundreds, if not thousands” of images in four boxes at his father’s home in Cebu, and reported it to local police and the FBI. I have not described the alleged material. Samantha Markle, his half-sister, disputes that the boxes were at their father’s home, and says he did not have access to the computers for two years.
The father’s denial
Mr Markle Snr told the Daily Mail: “I’m shocked, I’m hurt and I’m very upset that my son is making these accusations against me. I could never do what I’m being accused of. It’s the worst thing anyone could accuse me of.”
He added: “It’s just a bunch of lies. It’s sick. I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.” Samantha Markle has defended their father and accused her brother of fabricating the allegations for financial gain. Mr Markle Jr has not accepted that.
Meghan’s statement
Meghan, 45, said she was “deeply disturbed” by the investigation. In a statement, she said she had been made aware of similar allegations years earlier, which influenced her decision to keep her father away from her children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5. “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.
The Met’s 2019 letter
According to Sky News, Scotland Yard confirmed on Saturday 24 October that it received a letter in January 2019 about alleged offending outside the UK. It went to the force’s Protection Command because of potential security concerns involving Meghan. The Met said it passed the letter to Harry and Meghan’s office, but not the allegations to other law enforcement agencies. Meghan had said she was assured the allegations were being investigated. The Independent reports the force is considering referring itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. No referral has been confirmed.
ITV News royal editor Chris Ship examined the handwritten letter. He reported that it ran to several pages, was addressed to the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre and was written by someone close to the Markle family. ITV said it contained no allegations of offending in the UK, so the Met launched no criminal inquiry, and an initial search found no record of it in the police database. ITV withheld the details, so it has not been shown that the 2019 allegations match those now being investigated.
Meghan said she was told of the allegations in 2018, while the Met dates the letter to January 2019. Reuters reports a spokesperson for Harry and Meghan acknowledged she may have misremembered the date and that the Met’s records should be regarded as accurate. That does not show she never received the information.
The Philippine investigation
Nicholas Ty, a Philippine Department of Justice undersecretary, confirmed a specialist task force in Cebu, which handles human trafficking and online child sexual exploitation, is investigating, according to The Independent. The Guardian previously reported that authorities had secured a computer for forensic examination. No forensic results have been released, and there is no finding on who possessed, downloaded or accessed any material. An investigation is not a charge.
