The Metropolitan Police reportedly lost a letter outlining child sex allegations against Thomas Markle and later asked the Duchess of Sussex whether she had retained a copy.
The letter is understood to have been sent to the force in January 2019 by Mr Markle’s former wife, Roslyn Loveless, before its contents were subsequently shared with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Authorities in the Philippines are now examining a collection of child sex abuse images allegedly linked to Meghan Markle’s 82-year-old father. Mr Markle, who is recovering in Florida after having his leg amputated, denies the claims.
Ms Loveless, who died two years ago after divorcing Mr Markle in 1975, reportedly wrote that she had challenged her former husband about the allegations. According to the reported contents of the letter, he denied them but allegedly said he travelled to the Philippines and Thailand because “12-year-olds are legal there.”
The letter also allegedly warned that Mr Markle could pose a danger to Prince Harry, Meghan and the duchess’s mother, The Telegraph reported.
Ms Loveless is further said to have told police that knowledge of her former husband’s alleged “unsavory background” could assist with security and threat assessments in the UK.
The latest claims suggest that the force not only misplaced the correspondence but may also have failed to follow up on information provided several years ago.
According to The Times, officers eventually contacted the Duchess of Sussex to ask whether she had a copy. Meghan reportedly handed the document to them at their request.
Meghan Markle was photographed with her father, Thomas, in 2011. He is facing allegations of child sex abuse, which he denies
Exclusive Mail on Sunday photographs show Mr Markle in a Florida hospital after undergoing a leg amputation earlier this year
Mr Markle’s former wife, Roslyn Loveless, is understood to have sent the Metropolitan Police a 2019 letter containing allegations of child sex abuse
The reported loss of the letter adds to a series of concerns surrounding the Metropolitan Police’s handling of allegations involving Mr Markle, including claims that the information was not passed to the FBI.
The force is understood to be considering whether its handling of the letter should be referred to a police watchdog for examination.
Jim Gamble, a former head of the National Crime Agency’s child exploitation unit, accused Scotland Yard of potentially allowing abuse to continue by failing to deal properly with the information.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said that if the ongoing investigations in the Philippines and by the FBI ultimately result in someone being held responsible, children may have remained at risk for the seven years since the original information was received.
Mr Gamble questioned why the Met considered the allegations credible enough to seek a copy from the Duchess of Sussex, yet apparently did not share the information with other relevant law enforcement agencies.
“I would have expected them to prioritise an assessment of the safeguarding and child protection concerns that appear to have been raised in the letter,” he said.
“When information concerns someone in another country who may represent a threat to children, there is an established process. In general, you would expect a UK police force to share that intelligence.
“The Metropolitan Police should, in my view, have contacted the FBI and explained: ‘This has not been proven; it is an allegation, but you may wish to investigate it.’ US authorities could have had access to further information capable of supporting or disproving the claims.
“The information should also have been passed to the National Crime Agency, which has international links with police services in countries including the United States, the Philippines, Thailand and Mexico.”
Mr Gamble added that an external investigation into the force is ‘absolutely necessary’.
Mr Markle denies all of the allegations against him. Authorities in the Philippines are currently investigating
Meghan and Prince Harry are pictured in Nottingham
‘There’s a serious question to be asked about the process here,’ he said. ‘It’s not just about administration, it’s about children having an extended exposure to an individual, if it’s proven, who represented a risk.’
It’s claimed the letter received by the Met in 2019 was written by Ms Loveless, mother to the Duchess of Sussex’s half-siblings Samantha and Thomas.
Samantha, 61, has said that if her mother sent the letter, it was out of ‘hatred and bitterness’, accusing her of being an alcoholic and ‘not credible’. Mr Markle and Ms Loveless divorced in 1975, four years before he met Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland.
Meghan and her father have been estranged since at least 2018 when she married Prince Harry. Their relationship broke down after he admitted staging paparazzi photos of himself prior to the wedding.
The Duchess wrote to him last December after his leg was amputated in the Philippines, allegedly telling him he posed a risk to children and would never be allowed to meet his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet.
On Friday, police in the Philippines revealed they were investigating Mr Markle over claims he had ‘hundreds, if not thousands’ of child sexual abuse images, including an image of himself allegedly having sex with an underage girl.
The Philippines’ interior minister Jonvic Remulla said Mr Markle appeared to be ‘a possible sex offender of the grossest kind’.
Mr Markle has denied any wrongdoing, admitting he paid for sex in the Philippines but insisting it was only with adult prostitutes.
Our News Outlet contacted the Metropolitan Police and Meghan Markle’s representatives for comment.
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