Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle Sr., is reportedly being investigated over “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sex abuse images allegedly found in his Philippines home.
Thomas Sr.’s son, Thomas Jr., allegedly found the materials inside several boxes and turned it over to local police, according to the bombshell report by the Sun.
An insider close to the Duchess of Sussex told the outlet, “Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018.”
Thomas Sr. and Thomas Jr. did not immediately return Page Six’s requests for comment. Reps for Meghan and Harry did not get back to us.
Samantha Markle, Thomas Sr.’s daughter, has defended her father amid the allegations, claiming her brother Thomas Jr. “wants revenge.”
The father of Meghan Markle, pictured here in a past interview, reportedly had the images inside storage boxes at his Philippines home.
According to the outlet, authorities are prepping to seize the alleged evidence in Cebu.
Thomas Sr., 82, left his home in May for the United States following a stroke that led to a blood clot, and the subsequent amputation of his left leg.
He reportedly left the images in storage boxes buried among family “mementos,” which Thomas Jr., 60, found while searching for a phone.
According to the Sun, Thomas Jr. also reached out to the FBI, and a stateside investigation is reportedly set to be launched, as well.
After submitting his sworn statement to authorities in the Philippines on Thursday, Thomas Jr. told the outlet, “When I found this material I was horrified and I had no option but to report my dad.”
He added that while he has “supported, cared for” his father “and helped him for years, that “stops now.”
“I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him,” Thomas Jr. said.
Thomas Jr. reportedly told pals he found a 15-minute video of unclothed girls on an abandoned LG mobile phone while searching for a phone for his girlfriend’s father, and was “shocked and disgusted,” per the outlet.
The victims were allegedly “no older” than 10 or 11 years old, and were seen in “sex acts” in the video, along with three illicit photos of girls about the same age. One alleged image was taken from the screen of a laptop, according to the outlet, and Thomas Jr. reportedly recognized Thomas Sr.’s former residence in Rosarita, Mexico.
He was said to have been left a “shaking wreck” after finding the alleged images, reportedly telling one pal, “What I saw made me sick to the stomach — all this stuff was just dumped on me and I didn’t know what to do.”
Thomas Jr. also reportedly said, “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 realized I had to report him.”
According to the outlet, Thomas Jr. reported the alleged discovery tot he FBI hotline, the state police in Pennsylvania — where Thomas Sr. was living — and the National Centre for Exploited and Missing Children on July 10.
After not receiving any follow-up communication, Thomas Jr. enlisted help to remove four cardboard boxes and investigate the contents of three hard drives.
Thomas Jr.’s reportedly told his pal there was an “unbelievable amount of stuff” including “old family home movies on VHS cassettes, books, nine mobile phones, along with the Emmy Awards he won for his TV work.”
He also allegedly said there were “many more worrying items” he’d “never seen before,” including “old books that turned out to be full of naked little girls.”
After a technician enlisted to help with the hard drives unearthed more alleged material, Thomas Jr. reportedly “gasped when all of the icons suddenly appeared.”
Thomas Jr. reportedly said, “His desktop was full of row-upon-row of thumbnail pictures linking to the most sickening child abuse imaginable. The worst of the worst.”
Toddlers and preschoolers were said to have been seen in images engaging in sex acts or nude in images allegedly recovered from the hard drive.
According to the outlet, there were also images of a male engaged in a sex act with a “very young Asian girl” allegedly tucked in the pages of an antique book entitled, “Lewis Carroll Photographs Of Children: Four Nude Studies.”
There was also allegedly a developed film negative depicting a pair of “naked schoolgirls.”
The retired TV lighting director’s resume allegedly appeared alongside a download of Meghan at a women’s event at the United Nations on the same hard drive as the illicit images.
Per the outlet, on Thursday, investigators from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking reportedly appointed a task force overseen by the Women and Children’s Protection Centre, and the FBI was said to have confirmed they received Thomas Jr.s’ affidavit.
“An FBI agent has already requested the contact details of investigators leading the case in the Philippines,” a source told the outlet.
The source noted that Thomas Sr. is a US citizen and “is currently living in the US and may be linked to alleged offences committed on US soil,” adding that there’s “a strong precedent for cases in circumstances like this to be investigated by the FBI.”
Legal sources from Cebu City reportedly told the Sun that Thomas Jr. agreed to hand over the boxes of alleged illicit materials for “detailed forensic examination.”
He was said to have agreed to do so alongside a legal team “acting on the instruction of the task force of investigators.”
The Markle patriarch — who shares Thomas Jr. and daughter Samantha, 60, with late ex-wife Roslyn Loveless — is reportedly currently housed in a Florida nursing and rehabilitation facility.
He shares Meghan, from whom he’s been estranged for years, with second wife Doria Ragland, whom he split from in 1987.
Prince Harry, whom Meghan married in 2018, has yet to meet her father, who was dating his much-younger nurse, Rio Canedo, prior to his child porn probe.
-Pagesix.com
