UK's Met Police claims it sent allegations letter to Meghan Markle and not other forces

LONDON - London's Metropolitan Police said on Saturday that officers passed on a letter in early 2019 to Meghan, the wife of Britain's Prince Harry, after she said she had been informed of allegations about her father.

The police force said it had not shared the letter with other law enforcement agencies.

Authorities in the Philippines said on Friday they were investigating Thomas Markle over allegations he possessed child sexual abuse images.

Thomas Markle, 82, has not made any public comment and Reuters was unable to reach him but he was quoted by the Daily Mail newspaper as saying the allegations against him were untrue and "sick lies".

On Friday, Meghan said the news was "very distressing" and that she had been informed by British police of a letter with allegations about her father in 2018 after her wedding to King Charles' younger son.

"Following a thorough review of Met Police systems and records, we have confirmed that in January 2019, we received a letter containing a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom," a spokesperson for the Met Police said in a statement on Saturday.

"The letter was reviewed and a decision was made that it should be passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. The details of the allegations in the letter were not shared with other law enforcement agencies."

A spokesperson for the Sussexes said on Saturday it was "understandable" that Meghan "may have been mistaken" on the date she received the letter and that the Met's record "should be treated as the accurate reference point".

Meghan has been out of contact with her father since the run-up to her 2018 nuptials, which he did not attend.

She said she had also prevented him from having contact with her children Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, to protect them.

The Met said it was considering whether a referral to the police watchdog was needed to assess its approach.

Reporting by Suban Abdulla; Editing by Ros Russell/Reuters