Meghan's father Thomas Markle appears in court, ordered to home detention in Florida

Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has appeared in court after being charged over possession of child sex abuse material. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said he was arrested on a federal complaint alleging he held images that show child sex abuse.

The 82-year-old was arrested in Florida after the FBI searched two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented. He had rented the two units for almost 20 years.

The DoJ said Markle is charged with one count of possessing indecent images of children. Markle has previously denied allegations of possessing images of child sex abuse, calling them sick lies.

According to the BBC's US partner CBS News, Markle's court hearing lasted for 30 minutes, and the charges were laid out against him by federal prosecutor Courtenay Derry.

Markle was brought into court in a wheelchair, escorted by two US Marshals. He was wearing black trousers and a black t-shirt.

The court ordered Markle to submit to home detention at his assisted living facility in Florida and electronic monitoring.

No plea was taken during the hearing. A joint statement from the DoJ and the US Attorney's Office Central California said an arraignment date in California will be determined in due course.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not commented on Markle's arrest, according to the report.

FBI director Kash Patel said authorities moved quickly when arresting Markle. He said Markle allegedly targeted innocent children and that the FBI would use every resource at its disposal to protect innocent kids.

The FBI said the storage units searched under warrants had been registered to Markle since 2008, with the last payment made in October this year. Inside the units, agents seized about 78 items, including film negatives, slides and books that they allege contained child sex abuse material.

The FBI also said witnesses positively identified Markle in two of the images believed to contain child sex abuse material. In those images, the man pictured appears to be in the age range of 30s to 40s, which suggests the alleged abuse dates back decades, as Markle is currently 82 years old.

Last month, police in the Philippines obtained a warrant to examine devices allegedly removed from Markle's former home in the country. Four boxes of material, including computers, phones, hard drives and old video tapes, were handed to officers by Meghan's half brother Thomas Markle Jr.

Markle Sr moved to the Philippines last year after he had a series of strokes, and lived in Cebu until May. He was then reportedly living in a Florida rehabilitation centre learning to walk again after having his leg amputated.

In October, London's Metropolitan Police confirmed that it had received a letter in 2019 making a number of claims relating to Markle Sr. Information in the letter was passed on to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, but it was not shared with other law enforcement agencies. The force has since voluntarily referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over its handling of the letter.

In a statement released in October after the allegations against Markle Sr emerged, the Duchess of Sussex said she was deeply distressed at the news that had come to light in the last 24 hours, and her thoughts were with any children who may have been harmed. Meghan has been estranged from her father since 2018, and the BBC understands she broke contact with him last year.