Watch live as US Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to speak after a US prosecutor announced the arrest of Thomas Markle on suspicion of possessing child sexual abuse material.
The Duchess of Sussex’s father, 82, was reportedly arrested at the Maravida Senior Living care home in Lakeland near Tampa, Florida, having returned to the state to recuperate from a recent medical treatment and was pictured in a wheelchair being led away by FBI agents.
Mr Markle Snr’s arrest was announced by First Assistant U.S. Attorney for California Bill Essayli.
He was reported to police in the Philippines and to the FBI last month by his son, Thomas Markle Jnr, 60, who handed over a haul of alleged child abuse images he found in his father’s belongings in Cebu City, where an investigation is underway.
A second hoard was reportedly discovered last week in a storage unit Mr Markle Snr is said to have rented near his former home in Rosarito, Mexico, during a raid by Mexican police.
A statement published on the Department of Justice website on Friday read: “A Florida man was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint alleging he kept child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls, in two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented for nearly two decades.
“Thomas Wayne Markle, 82, of Lakeland, Florida, is charged with one count of possession of child pornography.
“Markle is expected to make his initial appearance today in United States District Court in the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.”
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