The father of the Duchess of Sussex has been returned to custody after allegedly removing his electronic monitoring bracelet only days after his arrest on charges involving child sexual abuse material, including images purportedly showing him with naked young girls.
Thomas Markle Sr was granted bail by a judge on Friday, on the condition that he remain under house arrest and wear a location-monitoring device.
The court in Tampa, Florida, also imposed restrictions on his travel.
But in a post on X, first assistant US attorney Bill Essayli said: “Four days ago, a federal judge allowed Mr Markle to remain out of custody pending trial.
“He allegedly cut the bracelet off at 1.45am last night.
“Release conditions are court orders, not suggestions.
“We are asking the court to revoke his release and detain him pending trial, and we will continue to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.”
US Magistrate Judge Lindsay Saxe Griffin, of the Middle District of Florida, later ordered Mr Markle to be detained.
Mr Markle Snr was arrested by FBI agents after investigators confiscated a collection of material from two Los Angeles storage units he had rented for almost 20 years.
He faces one charge of possessing child pornography.
The investigation began after his son, Thomas Markle Jr, allegedly discovered illegal images among his father’s belongings in Cebu City and reported the matter to police in the Philippines and the FBI last month.
Mr Markle Jr told The Sun that he had also alerted authorities to the storage units in Los Angeles.
Armed with search warrants, FBI agents entered the facilities registered to Mr Markle Sr, who had rented them since 2008. Auto-payments for both units had most recently been made last month.
Agents reportedly recovered around 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books containing suspected child sexual abuse material.
Two images allegedly show an adult man — described by a witness as being “positively identified” as Mr Markle — alongside a nude young girl.
According to court documents, the man in one image “appears to be in the age range of 30s to 40s”, potentially placing the alleged conduct decades in the past, as Mr Markle is now 82.
A third photograph allegedly depicts a nude young girl inside a room that appears to belong to a motel chain in the Philippines.
Other images are alleged to show Mr Markle with children who are partially or fully undressed.
A conviction could result in Mr Markle receiving a federal prison sentence of at least 20 years.
Mr Markle Sr, who had been living in a dementia care home in the US, has acknowledged paying for sex in the Philippines but has denied ever possessing child abuse imagery.
His daughter Meghan, who returned to the UK with her husband, Prince Harry, in August, said she was “deeply distressed” by the allegations involving her father. The pair have been estranged since the period leading up to her 2018 wedding.
She said she received a letter in 2019 through the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection containing “troubling and disturbing allegations” about her father, but was assured the claims were being investigated.
The Met has acknowledged that it did not pass the details to other law enforcement agencies. The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, is now examining the force’s handling of the matter.
Sources said the duchess wanted to “speak out” as soon as she read the letter, but police advised her not to do so.
After former television lighting director Mr Markle Sr had his leg amputated in the Philippines last year, he made a series of appeals for the duchess to contact him.
Meghan is understood to have sent him a final letter saying she knew he was an abuser and that he would never meet his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
