The Duchess of Sussex’s father has reportedly been moved into a care home for dementia patients.
Thomas Markle, 82, was taken to the facility in Florida, which specialises in “memory care”, on Friday, according to the Sun.
The move could make it difficult for the FBI to investigate him over alleged child sex offences.
The bureau is investigating after Markle’s son, Thomas Markle jnr, claimed to have found four storage boxes at his father’s home in the Philippines containing “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sex abuse images.
A second hoard of material was found at a storage unit Markle is claimed to have rented in Rosarito, Mexico, on Friday. However, he told the Mail on Sunday he “had no storage units in Rosarito” and described the allegations against him as “sick lies”.
Lawyers have said he would be unlikely to face extradition to the Philippines after his relocation to a rehabilitation centre in Florida in May, having had his leg amputated.
A dementia diagnosis and “cognitive issues” mean FBI officials face additional legal barriers to questioning him.
Spencer Kuvin, a Florida-based lawyer who represents several victims of Jeffrey Epstein, said: “You can’t just barge into a memory care facility and conduct an interview. Any decent lawyer would be able to get that interview struck [off] and the FBI know that.
“If someone has been diagnosed with dementia or a memory deficit then that prevents them from knowingly waiving their rights.
“There would need to be an independent medical opinion that he is able to be interviewed and there has to be a judge who signs off on the ability for him to speak.”
US-Philippines extradition treaty
The US does have an extradition treaty with the Philippines but rarely extradites US citizens.
Last week, police in the Philippines were granted a search warrant to examine Markle’s digital devices and hard drives.
Markle jnr is said to have handed over four boxes of material, said to contain mobile phones, hard drives, dismantled computers, other devices and personal effects to police.
Jonvic Remulla, the country’s interior minister, said last week: “Right now all signs point to a possible sex offender of the grossest kind.”
The FBI is understood to be conducting its own investigations into Markle.
A source close to the case in Cebu, in the Philippines, has said an FBI agent requested contact details for investigators leading the case, noting that there “may be linked to alleged offences committed on US soil”.
Separately, Scotland Yard confirmed on Friday that it had begun the process of alerting the FBI to allegations in a letter sent by Roslyn Loveless, Markle’s first wife, in January 2019.
The letter, seen by the Telegraph, included a specific allegation of child sex abuse as well as the claim that Markle had told her he had gone to the Far East “because 12-year-olds are legal there”.
The Metropolitan Police has referred itself to the complaints watchdog for failing to act on the allegations.
Meanwhile, the Philippines has accused the UK of refusing to grant it access to Britain’s sex offenders’ register.
Markle has admitted paying for sex in the Philippines but has strongly denied the child abuse allegations, suggesting he had been “set up”.
He has claimed he is “not well enough” to return to the country but insisted he would “speak to anyone who wants to talk to me”.
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