Thomas Markle should be detained separately after cutting off electronic tag, judge rules

A US judge has ruled that Thomas Markle should be detained “separate, to the extent practicable”, from the general prison population on his return to jail.Markle, who is the father of the Duchess of Sussex, was taken back into custody after cutting off his electronic tag within days of his arrest for allegedly possessing child sex abuse material, including images of himself with naked young girls.Magistrate Judge Lindsay Griffin found he had breached the conditions of his pre-trial release, and also noted his housing situation had “become untenable”, court documents show.Markle had been living in a dementia care home in Florida before his arrest.FBI agents took him into custody last Friday after seizing a haul of material from two Los Angeles storage units he rented for nearly two decades. The items included slides, film negatives, and books that contained suspected child sex abuse material. Two of the images allegedly depict an adult man – whom a witness “positively identified” as Markle – with a nude young girl.In one of them, according to court documents, the man “appears to be in the age range of 30s to 40s”, which suggests the alleged abuse dates back decades, given Markle is now 82.Thomas Markle was taken back into custody after cutting off his electronic tag (Pinellas County Sheriff's Office)A third image is said to show a nude young girl in a room that appears to be part of a motel chain in the Philippines. Other photographs allegedly show Markle with children in various stages of undress.He is charged with one count of possession of child pornography. If convicted, he would face at least 20 years in federal prison.Following his recent arrest, the court had released him on bail on condition he was subject to home detention and wore an electronic tag.He was also ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination, amid concerns he may not be unable to understand the proceedings or properly assist his lawyer.Prosecutors requested his recall to jail and detention pending trial after he removed the location monitoring bracelet in the early hours of Monday morning.First assistant US attorney Bill Essayli said: “Release conditions are court orders, not suggestions.”Approving his return to custody following a hearing in Tampa, Florida, Judge Griffin said in her written ruling: “I found that the defendant violated the conditions of his pretrial release and that, based on the lack of suitable housing, no condition or combination of conditions would reasonably assure the safety of any other person or the community and the defendant’s appearance in court.“Accordingly, for the reasons stated at the hearing, the defendant’s pretrial release is revoked, and he is detained pending the resolution of this case.”She added: “The defendant is committed to the custody of the attorney general or his designated representative for confinement in a corrections facility separate, to the extent practicable, from persons awaiting or serving sentences or being held in custody pending appeal.”Court documents also show Markle has surrendered his US passport and tourist visa for the Philippines.He came under investigation after he was reported to police in the Philippines and the FBI last month by his son, Thomas Markle Jr, who allegedly found illegal images in his father’s belongings in Cebu City.Mr Markle Jr told The Sun newspaper he had tipped off the authorities about the LA storage facilities.Meghan Markle, who moved back to the UK with the Duke of Sussex in August, said she was “deeply distressed” at the accusations against her father. She has been estranged from him since the run-up to her 2018 wedding.She revealed she was sent a letter via the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection in 2019 which made “troubling and disturbing allegations” about her father, but she was given assurances these were being investigated.Meghan Markle has been estranged from her father since the run-up to her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry (PA)The Met has admitted it never shared the details with other law enforcement agencies.The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, is now investigating the force’s conduct.The duchess had wanted to “speak out” immediately after reading the letter but police advised her against this, sources said.When former TV lighting director Markle Sr had his leg amputated in the Philippines last year, he made pleas for the duchess to contact him.Meghan is said to have written him a final letter in which she said she knew he was an abuser and that he would never see his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.Harry told the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday that children “deserve to feel safe wherever they are” as the duchess made her first public appearance since her father’s arrest.Meghan pulled out of speaking alongside the duke because she was not “strong enough emotionally”.