Met refers handling of Markle letter to police watchdog

The Metropolitan Police has referred its handling of a 2019 letter about alleged offending by Thomas Markle Sr to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, while saying it plans to send the allegations to relevant overseas law-enforcement agencies. The force said an internal review led it to make a voluntary referral to the watchdog over two decisions: not to share the letter’s allegations with other law-enforcement agencies and to pass the letter to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The IOPC has not issued findings on the referral. The Met said the letter arrived in January 2019, addressed to its Protection Command and Fixated Threats Assessment Centre. Its author suggested it concerned the Duchess of Sussex’s security, the force said, but it contained no specific security information and included claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom. The Met said it passed the letter to the couple for their awareness and did not share the allegations with other agencies. The force said referrals to relevant overseas law-enforcement agencies are now under way and are expected to be completed in the coming days. It did not describe those planned referrals as a...