Meghan Markle reacted to the investigation into her father — what he is suspected of

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, said she was "deeply distressed" by reports that her father, Thomas Markle, is under investigation by authorities in the Philippines for allegedly possessing material depicting the sexual abuse of children. This is stated in her statement sent to CBS News on Friday, October 23, UNN reports.

Details

Meghan, who recently returned to Britain with her husband, Prince Harry, and their children, said that she had been aware of the allegations against her father since 2018 and that the allegations had been passed on to British authorities at the time.

"In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and the Royal and Specialist Protection Service. The letter was subsequently passed on to me. It contained troubling and concerning allegations against my father, and I was given assurances that they were being investigated," her Friday statement said.

Meghan said she had distanced herself from her father in an attempt to protect her children.

"I hope it can now be understood that, despite the distortion of information in some media outlets over the years, any distance from my father and my choice not to allow him to have contact with our children were for one reason: to protect them," she said.

The British tabloid The Sun reported on Thursday, October 22, that Thomas Markle had been reported to authorities in the Philippines by his son, Thomas Markle Jr., after the younger man allegedly discovered material depicting child abuse in storage boxes at his father's home in the Philippines.

The Daily Mail reported on Friday that Markle denied the allegations against him. "I have never downloaded anything like that in my life," he was quoted as telling the newspaper, and he also dismissed the allegations as a "sick lie."

According to a report by the Mail, Thomas Jr. made the discovery while his father was in the United States receiving treatment for a stroke and a blood clot. The son initially saw some of the material after turning on an old mobile phone at his father's home in the Philippines, and later, in July, reported the material to the FBI hotline, as well as to the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children and Pennsylvania State Police, according to the newspaper's report.

Philippine state media confirmed on Friday in a post published on Facebook that the investigation was ongoing.

"The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Friday that it was investigating reports of an octogenarian U.S. citizen who left videos and photographs depicting child abuse at his home in the province of Cebu," the state-run Philippine News Agency reported.

An official from the Philippine Department of Justice said that the department's anti-trafficking task force was investigating the matter and confirmed that Thomas Markle Sr. was the subject of the investigation, according to the PNA report.

In her statement, Meghan said that she "sincerely hopes that justice will be fully served and that the safety and protection of innocent children remains the priority."