Thomas Markle Jr named a "person of interest" in Philippine abuse image inquiry
Philippine authorities have named Thomas Markle Jr a "person of interest" in an inquiry into child sexual abuse image allegations against his father, Thomas Markle Sr. The Guardian reported that Jonvic Remulla, the Philippine interior and local government secretary, told a press conference in Manila that there were signs Markle Jr is involved in the crime as well. Markle Jr, 60, is not currently being treated as a suspect.
The elder Markle, 82, is the father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wife of Britain's Prince Harry. He is the subject of a police and FBI investigation into whether he possessed illegal images while living in the Philippines and in Mexico. Philippine police had obtained a warrant to search his property in connection with the case, according to the BBC.
Remulla said more than 7,000 photos and one video of under-age males and females had been uncovered in the inquiry. Some of the images involved children as young as 10 and 11, he said.
Markle Jr is the person who first brought the images to authorities. He alerted local police and the FBI, the US federal police agency, to images he found in his father's belongings. He has claimed that he found four storage boxes at his father's home in the Philippines containing hundreds, if not thousands, of child sex abuse images. Markle Jr remains in Cebu City in the Philippines.
Markle Sr returned to the United States from the Philippines in May. He has reportedly moved into a care home for dementia patients in the US. He has admitted paying for sex in the Philippines but denies possessing child abuse imagery.
Meghan said she was informed of disturbing allegations against her father in 2018, and that she kept him from contact with her children to protect them.
