IOPC to investigate Met’s action on letter about Meghan’s father

The police watchdog will investigate the Metropolitan Police’s failure to pass on a letter detailing allegations against the Duchess of Sussex’s father to relevant overseas law enforcement agencies.It comes as police in the Philippines investigate suspected child sexual abuse images reportedly found at Thomas Markle Sr’s former home.Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, last week told The Sun he found a stash of child sexual abuse images belonging to their father at his former home in the Philippines and reported it to local police and the FBI.Mr Markle Sr has admitted paying for sex in the south-east Asian country but denies ever possessing a hoard of such material.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex during a visit to The Community Recording Studio in Nottingham earlier in October (Joe Giddens/PA)PA WireAn Independent Office for Police Conduct (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.“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.”The Metropolitan Police said on Thursday it had voluntarily referred itself to the police watchdog.The force said that in 2019, it received a letter in which the author suggested “they were writing to raise concerns relating to the security of the Duchess of Sussex”.The Met added the letter “did not actually contain any information specifically related to security matters, it did contain a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom”.It was passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness, the force said.Following a review, a voluntary referral has been made to the IOPC “in respect of the decision not to inform other law enforcement agencies, and the decision to pass the letter to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex”, the Met said.The Metropolitan Police has referred itself to the police watchdog (Sean Dempsey/PA)PA ArchiveCommander Adam Slonecki, who leads the Metropolitan Police’s Protection Command, said: “In January 2019, the Met received a letter addressed to our Protection Command, specifically the Fixated Threats Assessment Centre.“The author of the letter suggested they were writing to raise concerns relating to the security of the Duchess of Sussex.“While the letter did not actually contain any information specifically related to security matters, it did contain a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom.Read More“The letter was assessed and subsequently 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.“In recent days, the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards has carried out an initial review into our actions following receipt of the letter in 2019.“Following that review, a voluntary referral has been made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in respect of the decision not to inform other law enforcement agencies, and the decision to pass the letter to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.“In addition, it is our intention to make a number of referrals to relevant overseas law enforcement agencies in relation to the allegations contained within the letter.“That process is under way and will be completed in the coming days.”The Duchess of Sussex sent a final letter to her father while he was recovering in the Philippines from a leg amputation last year, according to reports in the Sun on Sunday.She wrote to say she knows he is an abuser and that he will never see his grandchildren Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, the newspaper said.The BBC and other media including the Telegraph, which said it had seen a copy of the letter sent to Scotland Yard in 2019, reported the note was written by Mr Markle Sr’s ex-wife, Roslyn Loveless, who has since died.She is the mother of Mr Markle Jr and Meghan’s other half-sibling, Samantha Markle, who has defended their father, telling the Mail on Sunday: “I believe this is a set-up.”Mr Markle Sr told the Mail on Sunday that he had “never had sex with anyone under the age of 18”.He told the paper that when he was single he travelled to the Philippines at least twice and “slept with prostitutes”.“I like Asian women but that is not a crime,” he said.“I am not well enough to go to the Philippines but I will speak to anyone who wants to talk to me. I have nothing to hide.”Mr Markle Sr is learning to walk again at a nursing facility in Florida after he had his leg amputated during life-saving surgery in 2025.He said he would also welcome any forensic examination of his computer, telling the Mail on Sunday: “If there is anything bad on there, it was put there by someone else.”Ms Loveless divorced Mr Markle Sr in 1975 and he married the Duchess of Sussex’s mother, Doria Ragland, four years later.Meghan became estranged from her former TV lighting director father in the run-up to her 2018 wedding after he was caught staging paparazzi photographs.He did not attend the wedding, leaving the King to accompany Meghan down the aisle, meaning the only member of her family present was her mother, Ms Ragland.In 2025, Mr Markle Sr moved to the Philippines for a new life after suffering a series of strokes.