Met refers itself to police watchdog over action on letter about Meghan’s father

The Metropolitan Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after reviewing its handling of a letter containing allegations relating to the Duchess of Sussex's father.The development follows scrutiny over the force's handling of allegations in correspondence linked to Meghan's father, Thomas Markle.The Met has not disclosed the nature of the allegations, nor identified the overseas jurisdictions to which information may now be passed.The force said the letter was received by its Protection Command in January 2019 and was addressed specifically to the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, which assesses threats to public figures.According to the Met, the author said they were raising concerns about the security of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. However, officers said the correspondence did not contain information relating directly to security matters.Instead, the letter included a number of allegations concerning alleged offending outside the UK.The Met said the letter was assessed and subsequently passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex "for their awareness". However, details of the allegations were not shared with other law enforcement agencies.Commander Adam Slonecki, head of the Met's Protection Command, said the force's Directorate of Professional Standards had recently carried out an initial review into the handling of the correspondence.As a result, the force has voluntarily referred itself to the IOPC over two decisions made at the time: not informing relevant overseas law enforcement agencies about the allegations and passing the letter to the Sussexes' office.Mr Slonecki said: "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."The Met has also begun the process of referring the allegations contained in the letter to relevant overseas police agencies.Read MoreMr Slonecki said: "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 underway and will be completed in the coming days."The IOPC will now consider the voluntary referral and decide whether any further action is required.