All signs point to Thomas Markle Sr being a “possible sex offender of the highest order”, although a full forensic investigation will provide a “definitive picture”, the Philippine interior minister has told the Guardian.
Authorities in the Southeast Asian country are analyzing digital images allegedly belonging to the Duchess of Sussex’s ex-father, allegedly found at his former home in Cebu. Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, reported to authorities last week that he had apparently discovered a stash of child sexual abuse images.
Jonvic Remulla, the interior minister, said: “In these cases where family conflicts are mixed, we have to consider all angles. Right now, all signs point to a possible sex offender of the crudest type. We want to be sure before publishing the findings. The forensic data will be complete in a week.”
Remulla said a statement would be released once the data was analyzed, without giving a specific date. “Please give us a week to determine the content and draw up a definitive picture,” he said. “We will then issue a statement.”
Markle Sr has denied possessing child sexual abuse images, telling the Daily Mail the accusations were “sick lies”. Philippine police are also investigating a laptop found in the Cebu home where Markle Sr lived until he returned to the United States earlier this year.
In a statement given to Agence France-Presse, Remulla said the Philippine National Police searched Markle’s former home and found “a trove of child pornography as well as a laptop.”
“The PNP will coordinate with its counterparts to locate and take appropriate legal action against Mr. Markle if it is found that there is sufficient evidence to charge him,” it said.
Markle Sr told the Mail the computers had no longer been in his possession since he left Mexico with his son in 2025 and moved to the Philippines “for a fresh start”. He said: “It’s bullshit. It’s just lies. It’s crazy. I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.”
The duchess, already estranged from her father, broke off contact with him last year, telling him that she and authorities were aware of allegations that he allegedly abused young girls.
In a final letter to her father first reported by The Sun on Sunday, sent while he was in a hospital in the Philippines after having his leg amputated, Meghan made it clear that she would never see her grandchildren, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, again, and would never contact him again, it is understood.
The Sun reported on Friday that Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, told detectives in the Philippines that he had discovered “hundreds, if not thousands” of images of child sexual abuse on computers and cellphones stored in four large boxes in the Cebu home. Markle Jr, 60, said he had also contacted the FBI in the United States, according to the newspaper.
Meghan revealed she became aware of allegations against her father in 2019, after being informed by the Metropolitan Police, and said she had received assurances the allegations were being investigated. Sources said she was informed that speaking publicly about the allegations could have jeopardized any potential legal action and also exposed her to legal action.
On Saturday, the Met confirmed it had forwarded a letter “containing a number of allegations relating to alleged offenses outside the United Kingdom” to Meghan and the Duke of Sussex in 2019, but did not share details with other law enforcement agencies. Scotland Yard is considering whether to approach the Independent Office for Police Conduct to review its actions.
The duchess was “upset and really frustrated” that the Met had not acted on the allegations made in the letter, sources said.
In a new interview with the Mail on Sunday, Markle Sr said he had “never had sex with anyone under 18”, telling the newspaper that when he was single he traveled to the Philippines at least twice and paid for sex.
He is reportedly in a rehabilitation center in Florida following his leg amputation.
In a statement released Friday, Meghan said she was “deeply distressed by the news revealed over the past 24 hours, and my thoughts are with all the children who may have been harmed.”
She said: “In 2018 a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royal and Specialist Protection. This letter was then shared with me. It contained disturbing and worrying allegations against my father and I was assured that they were being investigated.
“I hope that we can now understand that, despite the distortions of some media publications over the years, any distance from my father and my choice not to allow him to have contact with our children, had only one reason: to protect them. I trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families.
“While the scale of what has been uncovered is more sickening than anyone could ever imagine, I sincerely hope that justice is fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children. »
Sources later clarified that she had misremembered the year in which the Met contacted her and confirmed it was 2019 and not 2018 as she said on Friday.
The FBI said in a statement Friday that it was “aware of the allegations and will provide support, where appropriate, to Philippine authorities. We will also investigate any related allegations of federal violations of U.S. law.”
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