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Thomas Markle, 82, is now in custody awaiting a hearing in a federal court in Florida. Photo / Getty Images
Thomas Markle cut an electronic monitoring device from his ankle days after he was arrested on suspicion of possessing child sexual abuse content.
The estranged Duchess of Sussex’s father was detained shortly after 1.45am on Tuesday after he forcibly removed the monitor while on house arrest, according to United States
authorities.
Markle, 82, is now in custody awaiting a hearing in a federal court in Florida, Bill Essayli, the first assistant US attorney in California, has said.
Markle was first arrested on November 6 after the FBI discovered dozens of items of alleged child abuse material from two storage lockers he had rented in Los Angeles.
The US Department of Justice said agents seized about 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books that contained suspected abuse images.
The material included two images of a man – identified as Markle – with a nude prepubescent girl. A third image depicted a nude prepubescent girl in a room that appeared to be part of a motel chain in the Philippines.
Police previously found two separate lock-ups in the Philippines and in Mexico. Markle moved from Mexico to the Philippines in January last year, before relocating to Florida in May after the amputation of his lower leg.
He was moved into a care home for dementia patients in October.
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