Met Police to Review 2019 Letter About Thomas Markle
Scotland Yard confirmed receiving the letter and will examine how it was handled, while Meghan says she learned of the allegations in 2018.
By Daniel Rogers ·
If you followed the reports about Thomas Markle this week, here is what is now on the record: the Metropolitan Police in London confirmed it received a letter in 2019 with claims about Meghan's father, and the force will review how that letter was handled. A Scotland Yard spokesperson provided that confirmation to CBS News on Saturday.
The letter contained a number of claims about Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Police said the letter was passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness, and that the details of the allegations were not shared with other law enforcement agencies.
The reports about Markle began accumulating this week. The Sun reported Thursday that Markle's son, Thomas Markle Jr., had reported him to authorities in the Philippines, saying he found child abuse materials in storage boxes at the family home there. On Friday, it was reported that Philippine authorities were dealing with Markle over alleged possession of child sexual abuse materials, and the Daily Mail reported that Markle denied the allegations.
Meghan said in a statement sent to CBS News on Friday that she was deeply distressed by the reports and that she had known about the allegations since 2018. "In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated," she said. She also said she kept her distance from her father to protect her children.
The two accounts differ on when the letter was sent: Meghan refers to 2018, Scotland Yard to 2019. A spokesman for the duchess addressed the gap in comments to BBC News, a CBS News partner, saying that "any discrepancy of a few months" was "an understandable consequence of that passage of time." The Met said it will review how the matter was handled in 2019, and as part of that process it will decide whether to refer itself to the police watchdog.
Source: CBS News
