Filipino police are said to be 'very close' to bringing formal charges against Thomas Markle after child abuse images were found at his apartment, the force said last night.
Detectives said they had found 'explicit content' – including footage of 'male and female minors' – on digital devices which allegedly belonged to the Duchess of Sussex's father.
Police were granted a warrant on Thursday to search material found in four storage boxes at the 82-year-old's flat in the city of Cebu.
Officers spent the weekend looking through the devices, which included nine mobile phones, three SD cards, five hard drives, a camera and another non-digital object.
Last night, Major General Wilson Asueta, of the Philippine National Police, said: 'We were able to find that there are files consisting of CSEAM [Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material].
'This will be subjected further to analysis. These are videos of a male and female minors, others who are not minors doing sexual activities and of course, explicit materials.
'We are conducting ongoing digital forensics analysis and our field investigators are also doing their best conducting investigations... to validate the information that was provided to us. The investigation is going in the right direction.'
Child abuse images have been found at Thomas Markle's apartment, Filipino police said last night. Markle pictured with Meghan in 2011
He said that none of the children in the videos appeared to be from the Philippines but said they looked 'Asian [or] Caucasian'.
The Sun last night reported that as a result police were 'very close' to bringing formal charges against Meghan's father.
The force was handed the cache of potential evidence by Markle's son Thomas Jr, 60, who lives in the Philippines.
Meghan's half-brother claimed he had found 'hundreds, if not thousands' of child abuse pictures and videos – including an image that appeared to show his father having sex with an underage girl.
Markle has denied any wrongdoing, admitting he paid for sex in the Philippines but insisting it was only with adult prostitutes.
He has described the allegations against him as 'sick lies' and suggested he was 'set up'.
Markle moved from Mexico to the Philippines in January last year before relocating to the US in May following the amputation of his lower leg. On Friday, he was reportedly moved into a care home for dementia patients in Florida.
Experts believe it is unlikely that someone with advanced dementia could be extradited.
Meanwhile, Mexican authorities confirmed they had raided a storage unit previously rented by Markle in Rosarito after the Mail discovered a stash of indecent images of children there.
The FBI is also thought to be investigating after Scotland Yard finally shared a letter containing allegations his late ex-wife Roslyn Loveless sent about him in January 2019.
The force has referred itself to the independent police watchdog over its failure to act on the letter, despite sharing a copy with Meghan and Prince Harry.
The letter reportedly said that he had moved to Asia because '12-year-olds are legal there'.
Police have also reportedly advised Meghan not to speak publicly about the claims. She previously said she was 'deeply distressed' by the allegations.
A source told The Sun last night that Philippines police 'are still poring over everything but serious images of child abuse have been found... so formal charges are very close.'
Source link
