Meghan Markle’s estranged father is being investigated by police over a huge stash of child images after being reported by his own son.
Thomas Markle Snr, 82, is alleged to have kept four large boxes containing ‘hundreds, if not thousands’ of indecent photos and videos at his home in the Philippines.
A source close to the Duchess of Sussex told The Sun: ‘Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018.’
Markle Snr was reported to police by his son Thomas Jnr, 60, who claims to have made the ‘sickening’ discovery at his home in the city of Cebu.
Police in the Philippines are reportedly preparing to seize evidence, while the FBI is said to be looking into opening an investigation in the US.
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Markle Snr had to leave the house in May and fly back to the States after suffering a stroke and a blood clot which resulted in the loss of his left leg.
Thomas Jnr told The Sun: ‘When I found this material I was horrified and I had no option but to report my dad.
‘I have supported, cared for him and helped him for years — but that stops now.
‘I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him.’
Meghan’s half-brother, who has cared for the retired TV lighting director since he suffered a life-threatening stroke in 2022, told friends the discovery had left him a ‘shaking wreck’.
‘I knew right away it was highly illegal and would land me in jail for a long time if I didn’t get rid of it. I felt betrayed, angry and disgusted – and realised I had to report him,’ he told one.
Thomas Jnr said he was looking for a mobile phone for his girlfriend when he found an old LG device.
He said he reported the find to the FBI Hotline, the US-based National Centre for Exploited and Missing Children, as well as the state police in Pennsylvania – where his father was then living.
Thomas Jnr said he found ‘old books that turned out to be full of naked little girls and his father’s ‘desktop was ‘full of row-upon-row of thumbnail pictures linking to the most sickening child abuse imaginable – the worst of the worst’.
Among files stored on a hard drive are said to be clips of preschool children either nude or engaged in sex acts.
Other images allegedly include a man engaged in a sex act with an Asian girl stored inside the pages of an antique book called ‘Lewis Carroll Photographs Of Children: Four Nude Studies’.
Indecent material was also said to have been found on the same hard drive as Markle Snr’s work files, including his professional CV.
His daughter, Samantha, denied the allegations and accused her brother of inventing the story for money.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: ‘There is no merit in these disgusting allegations whatsoever and my brother is disgusting for making them up.
‘He wants to destroy our dad. Shame on him.’
It was reported last year that Meghan has not plans to see her father again.
He and her mother, Doria Ragland, divorced when she was six.
They have been estranged since her 2018 wedding when he was caught staging paparazzi photos in the run-up to the big day.
Markle Snr has never met his grandchildren Archie, six, and Lilibet, four.
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