Police watchdog to investigate Met over Thomas Markle allegations letter

The police watchdog has said it will investigate the Metropolitan Police’s handling of a letter containing child sex abuse allegations against the Duchess of Sussex’s father, which the force handed to her in 2019.

In a statement, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it had decided an independent investigation was required into the force’s admission it failed to pass on the allegations to “relevant overseas authorities at the time”.

Thomas Markle Snr is alleged to have possessed child sex abuse images in his Philippines home in claims made by his son Thomas Markle Jnr last week.

Mr Markle Snr, who is living in the US after suffering a stroke and a blood clot, denies all allegations and has claimed the accusations by his son are “sick lies”.

On Thursday, police in the Philippines said they have been granted a warrant to examine Mr Markle Snr’s devices.

Following the reports, the Duchess of Sussex said the Metropolitan Police had made her aware of “troubling” allegations made against her father in a letter in 2018. Meghan became estranged from her former TV lighting director father in the run-up to her 2018 royal wedding after he was caught staging paparazzi photographs.

The Metropolitan Police has said it passed the Duchess of Sussex a letter it had received in 2019, which contained a “number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom”, and was assured that they were investigated.

But the force later admitted it had failed to pass on the allegations to law enforcement in the relevant countries and referred itself to the watchdog for investigation.

Reports also suggested detectives had been forced to ask the duchess for her a copy of the document shared with her after misplacing their own.

An IOPC spokesperson said: “Following a voluntary conduct referral from the Met Police, we have decided an independent investigation is required into its failure to pass on allegations of serious offending, contained in a letter it received in 2019, to relevant overseas authorities at the time.”

In an apparent reference to the letter being shared with the duchess, the watchdog added: “We have decided that a further conduct matter – relating to an alleged data breach where information was passed on to a third party – should be returned to the force to be appropriately dealt with including via its data breach policies if required.”

In a statement, Scotland Yard said: “Following a thorough review of Met Police systems and records, we have confirmed that in January 2019, we received a letter containing a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom. It was sent to the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) Protection Command to raise concerns in relation to the security of the Duchess of Sussex.

“The letter was reviewed and a decision was made that it should be passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. The details of the allegations in the letter were not shared with other law enforcement agencies.

“The MPS is reviewing the handling of this matter in 2019 and considering whether a referral to the IOPC [police watchdog] is necessary to review our approach.”