Thomas Markle detained in Florida after removing ankle monitor

Thomas Markle, the 82-year-old father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has been detained in Florida after allegedly cutting off his ankle monitor, according to justice department officials in Los Angeles.

Markle appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Tampa after allegedly removing the monitor at 01:45 local time (06:45 GMT), a justice department (DoJ) spokesperson told the BBC. The judge ordered him jailed without bond and he is now in federal custody, the spokesperson said.

Markle was first arrested last week after the FBI, acting on warrants, searched storage units in Los Angeles registered to him which he had rented since 2008, with the last payment being made in October this year, the justice department (DoJ) said. Inside the units the FBI says agents seized about 78 items, including film negatives, slides and books that they allege contained child sex abuse material.

Witnesses "positively identified" Markle in two of the images believed to contain child sex abuse material. In those images, the man pictured "appears to be in the age range of 30s to 40s", which suggests the alleged abuse dates back decades as Markle is currently 82 years old.

Markle appeared in court last week following his arrest. No plea was taken during the appearance, which set several conditions for his pretrial release, including that he be kept in home detention. He is charged with one count of possessing indecent images of children, according to the DoJ.

During his arrest last week, he was taken from a senior care center in Lakeland by ambulance. Hours later, a judge allowed Markle to be released on the condition that he be electronically monitored, which typically means wearing an ankle tether. The judge also ordered a mental competency exam and a report by Nov. 20.

"Release conditions are court orders, not suggestions. We are asking the court to revoke his release and detain him pending trial, and we will continue to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law," Bill Essayli, the US attorney for Central California, wrote on X on Tuesday.

FBI director Kash Patel said last week that Markle "allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions". Markle has called the allegations "sick lies".

His daughter, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex married Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. They have two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. She is an American citizen and actor who starred in the U.S. television drama "Suits."

Meghan recently said she was "deeply distressed" by allegations that a collection of child sexual abuse images had been found at her father's former home. She also revealed that a letter containing "troubling allegations" about him had been sent to police in London in 2019.

"It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated," Meghan said of the letter. "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."

Thomas Markle was living in the Philippines this year when he suffered a stroke and had his left leg amputated. That forced him to return to the U.S.

His arrest followed reports by The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper, that Meghan's half brother found a collection of child sexual abuse images while clearing out their father's home in the Philippines. That discovery led to information about two U.S. storage units in California, which Markle had rented since 2008.

Sources

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