Daily Mail finds child pornography in Thomas Markle’s Mexico storage unit: Explicit images and pedophilia magazines uncovered as we report him to the FBI

The Daily Mail has reported the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father to the FBI after discovering a stash of child pornography in a storage unit he rented near his former home in Mexico.

Among the hoard, which includes books about pedophilia and magazines showing children being sexually abused, are several loose photographs of naked Asian females – who, in some cases, look conspicuously young.

The Daily Mail traveled to Rosarito Beach, Mexico, to look into Thomas Markle’s past life there. The publication was informed that a storage unit had been rented and abandoned by Markle.

Receipts seen by the Daily Mail confirm that he rented the 5ft by 10ft unit in 2017, six years after he moved to Rosarito, ten miles from the US border. 

Our reporter was granted access to the unit after Markle, the Daily Mail is told, failed to keep up with his lease-agreement payments for the past two years. 

Alongside the stash, which includes magazines published in Asia and depicting child pornography, are family mementoes, photographs and letters.

The Daily Mail also uncovered 35mm negatives showing apparently random, voyeuristic images of children on a beach. Other negatives show a woman with her limbs bound or ‘hogtied’ and being directed by a man during a photo shoot.

Our reporter made the disturbing discovery as police obtained a warrant to investigate child-sex images allegedly found in boxes of Markle’s possessions at his son’s home in the Philippines, where he lived after leaving Rosarito in January 2025.

There are around 20 boxes in the storage unit, some containing books about pedophilia and magazines showing children being sexually abused

Earlier this week, a Filipino official, Jonvic Remulla, said the former Hollywood lighting technician, 82, could be a ‘sex offender of the grossest kind.’ Remulla added that ‘all signs’ pointed to the possibility that a serious offense had been committed.

The investigation was launched into the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father after his son, Thomas Markle Jr, alerted Philippine National Police to the reported stash.

Markle denies wrongdoing.

The discovery of the Mexican storage unit, three miles from his former home, marks another extraordinary development in a case that could see Markle facing ten to 12 years in jail if charged and convicted.

It was while he was living in Rosarito that his relationship with Meghan fell apart. In the lead up to her 2018 wedding, he was caught secretly collaborating with a paparazzi photographer to stage a series of pictures at a time when Prince Harry was urging the media to leave his future father-in-law alone. 

Most of the photos found among 20 storage boxes in the Rosarito unit appear to have been taken when Markle was in his 40s or 50s. He was 43 when he and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, divorced in 1987 after eight years of marriage.

Nearly half the 31 roughly 10inch-by-8inch black and white photos appear to be of the same girl. In one, Markle, bearded and wearing a polo-style shirt and jeans, poses on the hotel bed alongside her while holding a cigarette in his right hand and staring into the camera. 

The girl’s expression is more relaxed and smiley. She is wearing a white lacy top, white belt and dark jeans and is clutching a small bag.

Among the photos in the unit is an undated image of Markle on a bed and with his arm wrapped around a young Asian female, both fully clothed. She appears, alone and naked, in several other pictures as well

Among the items in the storage unit are more than 50 video tapes, with titles such as ‘Boys – Brother and Sister – Russian XX’ and ‘Manila Nites’ 

But in the same hotel room she is also photographed naked and leaning forward, a necklace with a heart emblem around her neck.

Sixteen more 10x8inch black and white prints show various other naked girls. There is no evidence that Markle had sex with any of them. 

Elsewhere in the storage unit are more than 50 video tapes, with titles such as ‘Boys – Brother and Sister – Russian XX’ and ‘Manila Nites.’ Precisely what is on these tapes is currently unknown.

A stack of books includes titles such as Forbidden Sexual Behavior and Morality, The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People and The Invisible Children.

He also has the book Victorian Children, which contains photos of naked young girls from that era; Young Aphrodites, which pictures young girls; David Hamilton’s Private Collection, with photos of young girls; and Hollywood Lolitas. There is a soft-cover book called Le Fairy, again printed in the Far East, which contains naked photos of girls who appear pre-pubescent. 

There is also a paper plate with the words ‘DARK WEB’ scribbled in red ink alongside various URLs.

Markle has seven hard drives stripped from computers in the storage unit.

There is also an old computer tower, with a paper taped to it that reads ‘Overheated… Virus!’ 

The Daily Mail is told that Thomas Markle Sr first rented the storage unit in 2017 but stopped paying rent on it in 2024 

Several books have themes of pedophilia with titles such as Hollywood Lolitas 

Another stack of books includes titles such as Forbidden Sexual Behavior and Morality, The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People and The Invisible Children

Also stuck on the tower are instructions on how to run the WinCleaner program, which wipes hard drives of all information, along with an activation code. 

Four computer pen drives are in the unit along with two digital cameras from the early 2000s and two cameras designed for use by children. There is also an old Apple computer. 

It is unknown what remains stored on any of the devices. 

Markle did not respond to the Daily Mail’s several attempts to reach him for comment. 

Our reporter is told that he visited the unit a couple of times a month in the early years after renting it, bringing in items and taking others away. 

The last time he was seen there was in March 2024 when he renewed the lease for three months. He has not been seen since. 

His son, Thomas Jr, never visited the unit, nor did other people, according to a source. 

Markle is now in a rehab facility in central Florida where he is recovering and learning to walk again following the amputation of his left leg in the Philippines 11 months ago. 

The Daily Mail also uncovered VHS tapes – including one labeled ‘Manila Nites.’ The precise contents of the tapes are not known

An old computer tower was found with a note reading ‘Overheated Virus!’ taped to it, alongside digital cameras and flash drives. It is unknown what is on the devices

Instructions on how to run a WinCleaner program, which wipes hard drives of all information, along with an activation code, were seen in the unit

There is also a paper plate with the words ‘DARK WEB’ scribbled in red ink alongside various URLs  

It was shortly after that operation that exclusive images taken by the Daily Mail showed the moment Markle was given a letter from Meghan cutting him out of his grandchildren’s lives. 

The explosive message revealed Meghan ‘knew her father had abused young girls’ and that he would never meet his grandchildren, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five.

Last week Markle admitted that he paid for sex in the Philippines when he was single. ‘I never had sex with anyone under the age of 18,’ he said. ‘I like Asian women but that is not a crime.’

And he strongly denied his son’s claims that he downloaded child sex images onto computers and cellphones shared with authorities in the first haul, saying they are ‘the worst thing anyone could accuse me of.’

After moving to Mexico, the former lighting director for hit shows General Hospital and Married… with Children lived a secluded life in a rented property in the gated community of San Antonio del Mar.

His former property is currently undergoing reconstruction.

Locals the Daily Mail spoke with this week said he was rarely seen, apart from the odd foray to an expat bar, a minimarket and a Walmart.

‘Frankly, he seemed to live like a hermit. Nobody in all the years he was here really got to know him,’ said one local.

Receipts seen by the Daily Mail confirm the Rosarito Beach unit was rented by the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged dad after he moved from Los Angeles to his retirement home in Mexico

Thomas Markle, who previously worked as a lighting director on hit TV shows and soap operas, left Los Angeles for Rosarito in 2011. He is pictured in 2018 

General views of Markle’s former home in Rosarito, Mexico, just ten miles south of the US-Mexico border

He left the Philippines in May to stay at a rehab center in Florida, leaving his possessions in Cebu, Philippines with his son, Thomas Jr, who had been his caretaker. 

The Sun reported last week that Thomas Jr, 60, found ‘hundreds, if not thousands’ of child sex images in four boxes, and had reported his father to Filipino detectives and the FBI in the US, which are both investigating. 

One 35mm photograph reportedly shows a bearded man resembling Markle having sex with a young Asian girl – although he has said in response that he has ‘never been in a photograph like that.’

Thomas Jr said: ‘When I found this material I was horrified and I had no option but to report my dad. I have supported, cared for him and helped him for years, but that stops now. I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him.’

He later said: ‘I’m so, so sorry Meghan. I now know I have been protecting the wrong person for the past nine years. Having seen what I’ve seen, I believe the man I’ve been defending and caring for is a monster.’

After his revelation, Meghan said in a statement she had learned of child sex allegations in 2019 after being contacted by British police.

She said she was assured the ‘troubling and disturbing’ allegations were being investigated and was advised that speaking out could jeopardize any legal case.

The Daily Mail approached Samantha Markle at her home in Florida to ask about the contents of her father’s Mexico storage unit. Her boyfriend, Mark Phillips, answered the door and Samantha could be seen in the background but chose not to speak. 

Phillips said: ‘The only statement that you’re going to get is that Thomas Markle doesn’t even have fingerprints on the stuff in the Philippines…He didn’t even ever touch it the whole time it was there, he can’t be charged. 

‘Markle never had it in Mexico either…The FBI has no jurisdiction in Mexico. Thomas Markle Sr hasn’t lived in the States in 10 years. Even if there was bad [material] then the statute of limitations ran out five years ago. This is all bulls**t.’ 

Additional reporting by Andrea Noel and Emma James

Controversial images of children and study of pedophiles among books hoarded by Thomas Markle

Books hoarded by Thomas Markle include an album of photographs collated by a convicted child abuser and a study of pedophiles since criticized as being apologetic.

Dusty tomes found in a Mexican storage locker rented by the Duchess of Sussex’s father all hint at a fascination with sexualized children and illicit acts.

Among the books is a pictorial collection called Victorian Children, published in 1972, which includes numerous images of semi-naked youngsters in suggestive poses.

The book was co-authored by English photographer Graham Ovenden, known for his explicit portraits of young girls, who was jailed in 2013 for abusing children as young as six during the 1970s and 80s.

After his conviction, major British and international art galleries including the Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum removed Ovenden’s works and, in 2015, a judge ordered that his personal collection of paintings and photographs be destroyed.

Other books found in Markle’s locker include Young Aphrodites, a photographic accompaniment to the 1963 Greek film of the same name by Nikos Koundouros.

The film tells the story of a 12-year-old village girl who is wooed and ultimately raped by a shepherd in Ancient Greece.

The girl, played by actress Kleopatra Rota when she was just 16, spends most of the film semi-naked and the story implies that she came to enjoy the experience of being raped.

In the 1962 book Forbidden Sexual Behavior and Morality, also among Markle’s collection, sexologist Robert Masters devotes a whole chapter to pedophilia.

Modern reviews of the book have noted that it dismisses the emotional trauma suffered by victims of child sexual abuse while musing on how many men are attracted to underage girls.

The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People, written in 1981 by Irving and Amy Wallace, is a directory of celebrities with agonizingly detailed information about their sexual proclivities.

The individuals included are listed in the index according to their sexual preferences, under headings such as ‘prostitutes, ordinary and exotic,’ ‘incest,’ ‘baby fetish’ and ‘men who enjoyed girls 16 years old or younger.’

In the section devoted to silent movie ‘king’ Charlie Chaplin, the authors note that he ‘relished the prospect of deflowering budding virgins’ and tell how he recruited ‘star-struck starlets…both on screen and in bed’, including his second wife, Lita Grey, who first ‘grabbed Chaplin’s attention’ when she was just six.

The world of adolescent and child prostitution is explored in detail in The Invisible Children, also found in Markle’s stash.

The 1984 book by renowned investigative journalist Gitta Sereny details how desperate young runaways have turned to selling their bodies for cash, and how trafficked children are forced into a life of prostitution.

Further underlining Markle’s apparent fascination with prostitutes is the 1961 book Stews and Strumpets, which provides a detailed history of sex work dating back to primitive tribal societies and Ancient Greece and Rome.

Nude and semi-nude photographs of young girls feature heavily in Hollywood Lolitas: The Nymphet Syndrome in the Movies – which Markle apparently has at least two copies of, with one also in a box taken away by police in the Philippines.

The 1998 book by Marianne Sinclair is described as ‘a portrait gallery of the cinema’s most famous nymphettes.’

However, recent reviewers have criticized it for failing to recognize that young actresses such as Brooke Shields, who first appeared nude on screen when she was just 12, were exploited for the titillation of men.