Met Police Confirm 2019 Letter on Meghan's Father
The force says it will review how it handled the document and whether to refer the case to the police watchdog.
By Aiko Soto ·
The Metropolitan Police has verified that it received a letter in 2019 containing multiple claims against Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. A spokesperson for Scotland Yard provided this confirmation to CBS News on Saturday. The letter was forwarded to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. Police stated that they did not share the specific details of the allegations with other law enforcement agencies.
This confirmation follows a week of reports regarding Markle. The Sun reported on Thursday that Markle was reported to authorities in the Philippines by his son, Thomas Markle Jr. The younger man claimed to have found child abuse materials in storage boxes at the family home. On Friday, reports indicated that Philippine authorities were dealing with Markle over the alleged possession of child sexual abuse materials. The Daily Mail noted on Friday that Markle denied the allegations.
Meghan Markle issued a statement to CBS News on Friday. She described herself as deeply distressed by the reports. She said she had known of the allegations since 2018 and that they were shared with U.K. authorities at that time. Her statement said a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection in 2018. She added that the letter was subsequently shared with her and made troubling allegations against her father. She said she was given assurances that the matter was being investigated.
The duchess stated she had kept her distance from her father to protect her children. She said she hoped it could be understood that, despite certain media publications' distortion over the years, her decision not to allow him contact with the children had one reason: to protect them.
The two accounts differ on the date of the letter. Meghan referred to 2018, while Scotland Yard identified 2019. A spokesman for the duchess told BBC News that any discrepancy of a few months was an understandable consequence of the passage of time.
Scotland Yard announced the Met will review how the matter was handled in 2019. As part of that process, the force will decide whether to refer itself to the police watchdog.
