Met says it shared allegations about Meghan’s father with her but not other forces
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The Metropolitan police have confirmed they gave a letter to the Duchess of Sussex in 2019 concerning “alleged offending” involving her father, after accusations arose on Friday about Thomas Markle Sr having child sexual abuse images.
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Scotland Yard said it had received a letter in January 2019 making a number of allegations about offending outside Britain.
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The police force said it had passed the information on to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s office, but it did not pass it on to “other law enforcement agencies”.
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The Sun newspaper published claims that Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, claimed he had found a stash of images belonging to their father at his former home in the Philippines.
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On Friday, Meghan said she had been made aware of these allegations by the Met, and that she was “deeply distressed” by them.
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The duchess, who is estranged from her father said in a statement she had broken off contact to protect her children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five. He has never met them.
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Meghan and Prince Harry recently moved back to the UK from the US.
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Meghan’s father has denied the allegations and told the Daily Mail the accusations were “sick lies”.
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The Met said it was considering whether to refer itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to review its actions.
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In a statement, a Metropolitan police spokesperson 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.
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“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.
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“The MPS is reviewing the handling of this matter in 2019 and considering whether a referral to the IOPC is necessary to review our approach.” In a statement on Friday, issued through her spokesperson, the duchess said: “I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours, and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed.
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“In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan police and Royalty and Specialist Protection [Rasp].
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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. “I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father, and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them.
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I trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families. “Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.” She later said she had misremembered the year the Met had contacted her, and confirmed it had been 2019, not 2018 as she said on Friday.
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A spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex said: “In recalling events from more than seven years ago, without the benefit of a diary entry or contemporaneous record, it is understandable that she may have been mistaken by a few months.
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“If the MPS holds a time-stamped record confirming that the letter was reviewed in 2019, that should be treated as the accurate reference point for when it was received and shared with the duchess.
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“I think it is reasonable to recognise that she is doing her best to recall the precise timing of events that were not diarised at the time, and that any discrepancy of a few months is an understandable consequence of that passage of time.” Sources said that although Meghan was made aware of the allegations in 2019, she had been unable to speak publicly to avoid jeopardising any future investigation and because speaking out could have resulted in legal action against her.
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The Sun reported that Markle Jr told detectives in the Philippines he had discovered “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sexual abuse images on computers and mobile phones stored in four large boxes at the home in Cebu where Markle Sr was living until he returned to the US in May after having a stroke.
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Markle Jr, 60, said he had also contacted the FBI in the US, the Sun reported.
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