Meghan's father sent to jail after 'cutting off' electronic tag

Thomas Markle has been sent to jail, accused of cutting off the electronic ankle tag monitoring his movements under house arrest.

It comes days after Markle - the father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex - was charged with possessing child sexual abuse material.

He had been released on bail by a judge last Friday, subject to wearing a location monitoring device.

Markle was then arrested and appeared in federal court in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday after authorities learned he had cut off the tag at 1.45am (6.45am UK time), First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said.

At the hearing, US Magistrate Judge Lindsay Saxe Griffin ordered Markle to be detained and jailed without bond.

The judge wrote "the defendant violated the conditions of his pretrial release", adding that Markle's "pretrial release is revoked, and he is detained pending the resolution of this case."

Markle had been arrested by federal officers.

The prosecutor's office had earlier said it would be asking the court to revoke his release and remand him in custody, pending his trial.

Markle's initial arrest on Friday followed the seizure of around 78 items, including slides, film negatives, and books that contained suspected child sexual abuse images in storage in the Los Angeles area, Mr Essayli said.

The Duchess of Sussex's father was pictured in handcuffs in a wheelchair as FBI agents escorted him to court from a retirement home.

He appeared at a short hearing in Tampa and was charged with one count of "possession of child pornography".

Hours later, a judge allowed Markle to be released on the condition that he would be electronically monitored.

Markle was living in the Philippines this year when he suffered a stroke and had his left leg amputated, forcing him to return to the US.

He came under investigation after he was reported to police in the Philippines and the FBI last month by his son, Thomas Markle Jr, who allegedly discovered illegal images in his father's belongings in Cebu City.

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Mr Markle Jr said he had found "hundreds, if not thousands" of child abuse images while clearing out his father's property in the Philippines and had reported him to authorities there, as well as in the US.

The FBI searched units in LA registered to Markle, which he had rented since 2008, and seized the 78 items.

Markle, who was living in a dementia care home in the US, has denied ever possessing child abuse imagery, calling allegations against him "sick lies".

If convicted, he could face at least 20 years in federal prison.

In the fallout, it also emerged the Metropolitan Police had shared a letter with the duchess in 2019 about alleged offending by her father outside the UK.

However, the force did not inform other law enforcement agencies.

Meghan has been estranged from her father since 2018 and he did not attend her wedding to Prince Harry.

On Tuesday, Harry and Meghan arrived at the European Parliament in Brussels for their first joint public appearance since Markle's arrest.

Harry took to the podium to deliver a solo keynote address after Meghan pulled out of speaking alongside him because she was not "strong enough emotionally".

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