The Metropolitan Police reportedly misplaced a letter containing child sex allegations against Thomas Markle - and resorted to asking the Duchess of Sussex if she held a copy. 

Mr Markle's ex-wife Roslyn Loveless is understood to have sent the letter to the force in January 2019, before its contents were passed on to the Sussexes. 

Authorities in the Philippines are currently trawling through a trove of child sex abuse images which allegedly belong to Meghan Markle's 82-year-old father, who is currently staying in Florida after having his leg amputated. He denies the allegations. 

Ms Loveless, who died two years ago and divorced Mr Markle in 1975, is reported to have written in her letter: 'I questioned Thomas Sr. He denied the accusation but stated that he went to the Philippines and Thailand because 12-year-olds are legal there.' 

She is also said to have claimed that Mr Markle posed a threat to Prince Harry, Meghan and the duchess's mother, according to the Telegraph. 

Ms Loveless allegedly added that it was 'useful for security and threat assessments in the UK' for the Met Police to be aware of her ex-husband's allegedly 'unsavory background'. 

But it has been claimed tonight that the force reportedly both misplaced the letter and failed to act on a tip-off it received years earlier.

The force eventually asked the duchess if she held a copy, according to The Times, and she handed it over at their request. 

The misplacing of the letter is the latest in a series of apparent failings by the Met in relation to allegations made against Mr Markle, including a failure to pass the information to the FBI. 

It is understood that the Met is assessing whether to refer itself to a police watchdog over its handling of the letter. 

Jim Gamble, a former head of the National Crime Agency's child exploitation unit, yesterday accused Scotland Yard of potentially allowing child abuse to continue for years over its handling of the situation. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: 'If it turns out through the investigation ongoing in the Philippines and with the FBI that an individual is ultimately held to account for those offences, then there's seven years during which children will have potentially continued to suffer abuse.' 

He questioned why the Met Police assessed the claims as being sufficiently credible to pass to the Duchess of Sussex herself but not to other law enforcement.

'I would have expected them to prioritise an assessment with regard to the safeguarding and child protection issues that seem to have been included in [the letter],' he said. 

'If you get information that comes to you about someone from a foreign jurisdiction who represents a threat to children, there's a well-worn path and generally you'd expect a UK police force to share that information.

'I would have expected the Metropolitan Police to have gone to the FBI to say, 'Look, this isn't proven, it's an allegation, you might want to look at it'. Because in America, they may have more information that could corroborate it.

'It also should have gone to the National Crime Agency. They have an international network that connects with police services, not just in the likes of America, but in the Philippines, in Thailand, and in Mexico.'

Mr Gamble added that an external investigation into the force is 'absolutely necessary'.

'There's a serious question to be asked about the process here,' he said. 'It's not just about administration, it's about children having an extended exposure to an individual, if it's proven, who represented a risk.'

It's claimed the letter received by the Met in 2019 was written by Ms Loveless, mother to the Duchess of Sussex's half-siblings Samantha and Thomas. 

Samantha, 61, has said that if her mother sent the letter, it was out of 'hatred and bitterness', accusing her of being an alcoholic and 'not credible'. Mr Markle and Ms Loveless divorced in 1975, four years before he met Meghan's mother Doria Ragland.

Meghan and her father have been estranged since at least 2018 when she married Prince Harry. Their relationship broke down after he admitted staging paparazzi photos of himself prior to the wedding.

The Duchess wrote to him last December after his leg was amputated in the Philippines, allegedly telling him he posed a risk to children and would never be allowed to meet his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet. 

On Friday, police in the Philippines revealed they were investigating Mr Markle over claims he had 'hundreds, if not thousands' of child sexual abuse images, including an image of himself allegedly having sex with an underage girl.

The Philippines' interior minister Jonvic Remulla said Mr Markle appeared to be 'a possible sex offender of the grossest kind'.

Mr Markle has denied any wrongdoing, admitting he paid for sex in the Philippines but insisting it was only with adult prostitutes.

The Daily Mail contacted the Metropolitan Police and Meghan Markle's representatives for comment. 

AN WILSON: The one question about the horrible Thomas Markle senior saga that must be answered... and why there are now fears of a 'nothing-to-see-here' cover-up. This could be so damaging to the royals