Investigators probing Thomas Markle Snr over alleged child sexual abuse have found and recovered more than 7,000 photos, according to reports.
The Philippines' Interior and Local Government Secretary, Jonvic Remulla, said during a press conference in Manila on Thursday, November 5, a video was found along with the images. He said they were all of underage girls and boys of Asian, Latin and European descent.
Some were as young as 10 and 11 years old, he added. Mr Remulla described the images as "the most deplorable displays of impunity towards sexual activity that I have ever seen".
Son named as person of interest
It also emerged that Meghan Markle's half brother, Thomas Markle Jr, has been named as a 'person of interest' in the investigation. Mr Remulla said: "We're determining if [the] son is involved... There are signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well but only as a person of interest so far."
He added: "We will know in the next few days." Mr Markle Sr, who returned to the US in May, previously said he has paid for sex in the Philippines, but denies possessing child abuse imagery.
Background and police response
The latest development comes after reports that Thomas Markle Jr alerted the FBI to two storage units in Los Angeles days after a raid by Mexican police on a storage unit his father is said to have rented near his former home in Rosarito, Mexico.
Meghan said she felt feeling "deep distress" by the allegations about her father. She was sent a letter from the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection seven years ago which detailed "troubling and disturbing allegations" about Thomas Markle Snr.
She was reportedly given assurances the allegations were being investigated. But police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), previously said that it will investigate the Metropolitan Police's failure to pass on the letter to relevant overseas law enforcement agencies.
The force said that in 2019 it received a letter in which the author suggested "they were writing to raise concerns relating to the security of the Duchess of Sussex". Scotland Yard added the letter "did not actually contain any information specifically related to security matters, it did contain a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom".
It was passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness, according to the Met Police. After a review, the force said a voluntary referral was made to the IOPC "in respect of the decision not to inform other law enforcement agencies, and the decision to pass the letter to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex".
The Duchess of Sussex's spokesperson declined to comment.
