Duchess of Sussex's estranged half-brother a person of interest in child abuse image inquiry

Thomas Markle Jr, the estranged half-brother of the Duchess of Sussex, has been named a person of interest in the Philippine investigation into child sexual abuse image allegations against his father, Thomas Markle Sr.

The country's interior and local government secretary, Jonvic Remulla, told a press conference in Manila on Wednesday that there were "signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well". He said Markle Jr, 60, was not yet being treated as a suspect, and that his alleged involvement is not thought to be directly connected to the material he handed to police.

Remulla said investigators had uncovered more than 7,000 photos and one video, all showing under-age males and females of Asian, Latin and European descent, with some of the children as young as 10 and 11. He described the material as "the most deplorable displays of impunity towards sexual activity that I have ever seen".

"We're determining if [the] son is involved," Remulla said. "There are signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well but only as a person of interest so far." He added: "We will know in the next few days."

It was Markle Jr who originally alerted local police and the FBI, claiming he had found four storage boxes at his father's home in the Philippines containing "hundreds, if not thousands" of child sex abuse images. He remains in Cebu City in the Philippines.

Markle Sr, 82, who is estranged from Meghan, returned to the United States from the Philippines in May and has reportedly been moved into a care home for dementia patients. He has admitted paying for sex in the Philippines but has strongly denied possessing child abuse imagery, and has suggested he was "set up". Remulla has previously described him as "a possible sex offender of the grossest kind".

Police and FBI agents have been investigating whether Markle Sr possessed any illegal images while living in the Philippines and in Mexico, where he previously resided and where other illegal images were reportedly found in one of his storage units.

According to the Sun, which first published the claims, Markle Jr was recently interviewed at his home in Cordova, Cebu, as part of an international, multi-agency meeting held via Microsoft Teams. He gave his statement to an FBI agent based in Florida who specialises in child sex abuse cases.

When the allegations against her father were first published, the Duchess of Sussex said in a statement that she was "deeply distressed" by the claims. She said she had been informed of disturbing allegations against her father in 2018 and had kept him from having contact with her children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, in order to protect them.