Thomas Markle, an accused child sexual predator and the estranged father of Britain’s Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, poses for a jail booking photograph after cutting off an electronic ankle monitor he was ordered to wear as a condition of home confinement
Thomas Markle, the estranged 82-year-old father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was sent back to jail in Florida on Tuesday after removing his court-ordered electronic ankle monitor. Thomas Markle was arrested on Friday in Lakeland, Florida, and appeared before a federal court in Tampa after authorities discovered that he had cut off his ankle monitor at around 1.45 am on Monday.
First assistant US attorney Bill Essayli said the authorities had sought to revoke his release following the violation. In her written order, she noted that his “housing situation” had become “untenable”, but did not elaborate further. His defence attorney, Mary Claire Wolf, had sought to keep him out of custody but had not been able to find a suitable alternative place for him to stay, according to a hearing summary. The material included two explicit photographs of Markle posing with a naked underage girl, along with other images showing children in various stages of undress, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court.
The move violated the conditions of his pre-trial release, just days after he was arrested and charged with possessing child sexual abuse material. A US magistrate judge ordered him to remain in federal custody without bond. US magistrate judge Lindsay Griffin agreed that Markle should be taken back into custody.
He had initially been allowed to leave custody under home detention and electronic monitoring before the alleged violation led to his return to jail. No plea was entered during his initial court appearance on Friday.