Thomas Markle, the 82-year-old father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has been arrested in Florida and charged with possessing child sexual abuse material, the US Department of Justice has announced.

Markle was taken into custody by federal agents on Friday 6 November in Lakeland, near Tampa, and is charged with one count of possession of child pornography. He has not yet entered a plea.

Prosecutors say Markle kept sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls in two storage units in the Los Angeles area, which he had rented for nearly two decades. Federal agents searched the units on 30 October and 4 November, seizing around 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books containing material suspected of being child sexual abuse material.

House arrest after first court appearance

Markle made his first appearance in the US District Court in Tampa on Friday. A magistrate judge ordered his release on house arrest at his assisted living facility, with electronic monitoring. He is not allowed to travel outside the Middle District of Florida and the Central District of California.

The case is being handled by federal prosecutors in California, where the units were located and the complaint was filed. His arraignment there has yet to be scheduled, but prosecutors said it will likely take several weeks. If convicted of the single possession count, Markle faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

The investigation began after Markle's son, Thomas Markle Jr, told Britain's Sun newspaper he had found indecent images of underage children at his father's house in the Philippines and had reported him to the authorities there. Markle has previously denied the allegations, calling them untrue. In October, the Duchess of Sussex said she was "deeply distressed" by a report about the images.