Thomas Markle Appears in Court on Federal Child Sex Abuse Material Charge

Thomas Markle was wheeled into a federal courtroom by two US Marshals, dressed in black trousers and a black t-shirt. The 82-year-old father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, sat through a hearing that lasted 30 minutes, during which federal prosecutor Courtenay Derry laid out the charge against him, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

The US Department of Justice says Markle was arrested in Florida on a federal complaint alleging he possessed images showing child sex abuse. He faces one count of possessing indecent images of children. He has previously denied such allegations, calling them "sick lies".

The court ordered home detention at his assisted living facility in Florida, along with electronic monitoring. No plea was taken. A joint statement from the DoJ and the US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said an arraignment date in California will be set in due course.

The arrest followed FBI searches, carried out under warrants, of two storage units in the Los Angeles area. Markle had rented them since 2008, and the last payment was made in October this year. The FBI says agents seized about 78 items, including film negatives, slides and books, which it alleges contained child sex abuse material.

Witnesses "positively identified" Markle in two of the images believed to contain such material. The man in those pictures appears to be in his 30s to 40s, which points to alleged abuse dating back decades, given Markle's present age.

FBI director Kash Patel said authorities "moved quickly". He said Markle "allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions", and that the FBI would use every resource available to protect children, adding that any predator would have "zero safe haven" in the US or elsewhere.

There is an overseas strand as well. Last month, police in the Philippines obtained a warrant to examine devices allegedly removed from Markle's former home there. Four boxes of material, including computers, phones, hard drives and old video tapes, were handed to officers by Meghan's half brother, Thomas Markle Jr. Markle Sr moved to the Philippines last year after a series of strokes and lived in Cebu until May. He has reportedly since been in a Florida rehabilitation centre, learning to walk again after a leg amputation.

In London, the Metropolitan Police confirmed in October that it received a letter in 2019 making a "number of claims" about Markle Sr. The letter concerned allegations relating to conduct outside the UK. The Met says it passed the information to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex but did not share it with other law enforcement agencies. The force has since referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over how it handled the letter.

When the allegations emerged in October, the Duchess said she was "deeply distressed" and that her thoughts were with any children who may have been harmed. She has been estranged from her father since 2018, and the BBC understands she broke contact with him last year. The Sussexes have not commented on the arrest. Next to watch: the California arraignment date, and the IOPC's review of the Met's handling of the 2019 letter.