Philippine police find child abuse imagery on devices tied to Meghan Markle's estranged father

Philippine police told AFP on Wednesday that three memory cards and a cell phone turned over by the son of Meghan Markle's estranged father contained child sexual abuse material.

Last week, Philippine police said they were investigating a laptop found alongside images of child abuse at an alleged former residence of Thomas Markle, whose daughter is married to Britain's Prince Harry.

Philippine interior minister Jonvic Remulla told AFP at the time the country planned to take "appropriate legal actions" if sufficient evidence was found. Markle has denied all claims against him.

On Wednesday, the country's national police said child abuse materials had been discovered among the cache turned over by Markle's son amid an "intensifying" investigation.

Thomas Markle gives an interview to Good Morning Britain on March 8, 2021. Photo by Reuters

"It is not enough to simply come across some materials and immediately draw conclusions," Philippine national police chief Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr said, in a statement provided in response to questions about the investigation.

"We have to establish where these came from, who may be responsible, and whether Philippine laws were violated," he said.

The revelation came a day after Mexican authorities raided a storage unit rented by Thomas Markle as part of the ongoing investigation.

The prosecutor's office of Mexico's Baja California state said Monday it had received an anonymous tip about the existence of child sex abuse material in a storage unit rented by Thomas Markle.

Investigators said the owner of the storage unit reported Markle had stopped paying rent for it in 2024 but his possessions remained secured inside.

Authorities reported finding "magazines from Asia" dating back 20 years, without giving further details, as well as computer equipment that has been taken in for further investigation.

British tabloid The Sun first reported last month that Markle's son, Thomas Markle Jr, had discovered the child abuse images while going through boxes found in his father's former home.

Markle had been living in Cebu in the Philippines until reportedly returning to the United States earlier this year.

Meghan Markle has previously said she was "deeply distressed" by accusations that her father had possessed images of child abuse, adding she had blocked contact between him and her children over previous "troubling and disturbing" allegations.